A Restless Night
by Ichgehrausundschliessedietr5
Summary: It's a beautiful day, but not for everyone at Miss Peregrine's home for peculiar children. What happens when Miss Peregrine isn't fit enough to care for her children and the oldest children are left with the responsibility for the younger ones, their headmistress and another little new family member. Will they cope?
1. Chapter 1

**Hi everyone, this is my first fanfiction ever and English isn't my first language. I hope you still like it though.**

 **There are already some fanfictions like this one but I still felt like writing one in my own way .**

 **I don't own any of the characters from Miss Peregrine's home for peculiar children, I just like writing about them.**

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It was September 3rd, a beautiful and sunny day. As always Miss Peregrine woke up early to get ready and prepare the breakfast for her children. She opened her eyes as the first rays of sunlight were making their way into her room. Normally she would wake up to a dark room since sunrise is not before 6.40. She would have to hurry now to get ready before the first children would come down. But as soon as Miss Peregrine got up she knew the day wouldn't be as perfect as the first sunshine. She wasn't feeling good at all. She had a throbbing headache and her whole body hurt. She cursed silently to herself. _Why now_? She knew she had felt worn out the evening before and even had had a small headache but she thought after a goodnights sleep she would be fine again. Slowly she made her way to her wardrobe and got dressed. Yes, she was feeling terrible but it wasn't too bad and hardly anything would stop her from caring for her children. She picked out one of her dark blue dresses like she usually does. Blue was after all her favorite color. Afterwards she went over to her small bathroom, that she has all to herself. Before she put some makeup on and dressed her hair, she splashed some cold water into her face. It felt quite soothing to her head. For a short moment she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. There was a long day ahead and she was already tired. She just hoped that none of her children would notice. She looked up at her reflection in the mirror and didn't like what she saw. There were dark circles under her eyes which made her usually piercing eyes look small and tired. She sighed and readied herself. But now she had to hurry. Entering the kitchen she noticed the clock. It was already 7 o'clock, her children usually come down between 7 and 8 o'clock. Miss Peregrine headed for the cabinets on the other side of the kitchen and took out all the supplies she needed. There were oats and milk for Porridge, eggs, toast, beans and some fruit. All the things she knew her children liked. She would do everything for them, including a perfect but extensive breakfast. They all had a difficult past and doing these small things was her way of showing them how special and loved they really are. Just as she was cutting the fruit Emma made her way down into the kitchen. Miss Peregrine was seated at the table with her back to the door. Normally she prepares the meals standing but she still felt a bit weak and her headache was troubling her again. The first thing Emmy noticed was that Miss Peregrine was still preparing the breakfast and that the table wasn't set yet which it usually is by now. _That is odd_ , Emma thought.

"Good morning, Miss Peregrine. Can I help you with anything?" Emma asked. Miss Peregrine gave a start, she didn't hear Emma coming. She turns around.

" Good morning my dear! No, it's fine. I got it. Just do whatever you like to do until breakfast is ready." She gave Emma a loving smile, but Emma didn't let go so easily. She knows exactly how Miss Peregrine is, that she likes to do everything for her children and rarely accepts help. But she also knows that it's sometimes too much work for their ymbryne, who has been looking exhausted more often lately. She had heard her talking to her sister ymbrynes and knows the current situation of peculiardom too well. They're all afraid of another hollow attack and living in constant fear, having the responsibility for so many children and hiding her worries is taking a toll on Miss Peregrine. So Emma was determined to do whatever she can to help her.

"I could set the table for you while you finish preparing the food though," she suggested. "Then, we can start eating as soon as the others come down." Miss Peregrine thought about it for a moment but agreed eventually. " Okay Emma, that would be nice, thank you!" Emma smiled and headed for the cabinets taking out all the dishes they needed and bringing them next door. As she came back for the second time Miss Peregrine had just finished with the fruit and was getting up to clean up the remains. But as she got to her feet she suddenly felt light-headed and had to steady herself by grasping the table. She sat down again and put her throbbing head into her hands. Immediately Emma hurried to her.

"Miss Peregrine, are you okay? What's wrong with you?" Emma was standing next to Miss Peregrine her left hand on Miss Peregrines right shoulder.

"I'm ok, I just stood up too quickly. Just give me a minute and I'm fine." Miss Peregrine sighed and closed her eyes. _This damn headache just won't go away and now the dizziness_ , she was feeling worse by the minute. Emma looked worried, she didn't believe a word, that her ymbryne said. She could see how pale Miss Peregrine was and judging by her posture she must have a bad headache.

"You're not looking ok, Miss. I can see that you're not feeling good. Maybe it would be best if you'd go upstairs and lay down again. You really look sick. We'll be fine here, I can finish up breakfast"

Miss Peregrine lifted her head and looked at Emma. She could tell that she's serious by looking into her eyes. Emma could always be quite stubborn, even as a child. But this time it was different, there was worry in her eyes, too. And Miss Peregrine doesn't like seeing such feelings in her children's eyes. And it's all her fault! She should have hidden her feelings better, but now it's too late. She laid her head back in her hands and sighed. Emma is right, she feels quite sick and just thinking about finishing breakfast and staying on her feet the whole day makes it ten times worse.

" Okay, you're probably right, I do feel unwell. But I can't just leave you with everything here.

It's too much and you shouldn't do so much work. As an ymbryne it is my job to care for you."

"But we're not all kids anymore, we can and want to help you! And especially when you're sick. You're always there for us, let us give you something back."

Just as Emma tried to persuade Miss Peregrine that laying down would be best for her, Enoch entered the kitchen. At seeing his headmistress sitting there with Emma fussing over her he looked confused.

"What's happening here?" he asked.

"Miss Peregrine isn't feeling alright and I told her to lay down and rest but she doesn't want to leave all the work to us."

Miss Peregrine kept her head down. It still hurt a lot, besides, she doesn't want another child seeing her like this. Enoch approached the two of them and laid his right hand on Miss Peregrines back.

"It's alright Miss Peregrine. We can do this. I'm here now and I can help Emma with the meal. " Slowly Miss Peregrine lifted her head and looked up. Enoch could finally see what Emma meant: Miss Peregrine was really pale and had dark circles around her eyes. _She must feel pretty bad._

"Emma is right, you don't look too good. Let me bring you upstairs. We will manage on our own, I promise." Miss Peregrine slumped down into her chair, surrendering. _Maybe it's for the best..._

"Okay, I'll lay down for a bit but as soon as something happens you come and get me, okay?"

" Yes Miss Peregrine, of course," Emma answered. She was relieved that Enoch had finally been able to talk their headmistress around.

Miss Peregrine let Enoch help her up and together they made their way up the stairs back to her room.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

While Enoch accompanied Miss Peregrine back to her room Emma continued what Miss Peregrine had started. She had managed to prepare the Porridge and the fruit so Emma started cooking the eggs and heating the beans. She was just finishing the toasts as Enoch returned.

" How did it go?" Emma asked immediately. "Good," Enoch said. "Actually two good. She didn't even put up another fight, that's not like her. She must be feeling really terrible."

"I bet she is. Frankly, I thought she would collapse on her way back upstairs. She looked so weak." Emma looked worried again. Preparing the meal kind of distracted her but now it all came back. She just hopes that her headmistress will get better soon.

"So did I but she did ok." Enoch approached Emma and tried to comfort her with a small hug. "She'll be ok, Emma. Now, what can I help you with? I can see you've already done a lot."

"Yes. But you could fry the bacon while I make the pancakes, Claire loves so much," Emma suggested.

"That's a good idea. But speaking of Claire: Someone's got to get the little ones ready. I'll quickly go upstairs and tell Olive what's going on so that she can take care of the others."

Emma nodded while preparing the batter, then Enoch left. He found Olive in her room, awake, but not dressed yet, and told her about Miss Peregrine. She understood and assured him that she will help by tending to the younger children.

Downstairs Enoch and Emma finished the last preparations as all the other children came down the stairs. They took their usual places and for a change Millard had even put on some clothes. Not all of them already knew about Miss Peregrine. Olive had just called them to come down for breakfast.

"Where is Miss Peregrine?" little Clare asked as soon as she entered the room and saw Emma and Enoch carrying the food to the table. " Yes," Fiona joins the conversation. "Where is she. She is always here when we come down."

Emma, Enoch and Olive exchanged glances. By now all the children had noticed that something was different. They were all looking expectantly at the older ones.

After a short period of silence Emma began carefully: " Yes, you're right. There is something we need to tell you." She looked at Enoch for confirmation, who nodded for her to keep speaking. " Miss Peregrine isn't feeling so good today, that's why we told her to stay in bed to rest."

"Is she going to be alright?" Bronwyn interrupted. "Yeah and what's wrong with her," Millard wanted to know. All the children were talking at the same time now.

"Shush! We can't answer you if you're all talking at once!" Enoch shouted. " Don't be so hard on them, they're just worried," Olive reminded him placing her hand on his to calm him down a bit. He gave a short nod and sat down.

"That's right. What was I saying? Yes, she's staying in bed because she's a bit sick. But I assure you, it's nothing to worry about. She just has a headache and will be fine in no time," Emma continued. " But she needs time to rest and that's why you have to be brave and behave today. I want no one running around and making a lot of noise today. We have to help each other in order to manage our daily routine on our own. Then we can show her that she can trust us to be ok without her. Do you understand that?"

All the children were nodding eagerly

"I could paint a picture for her, so she gets better faster, " Claire suggested. The twins gurgled and nodded fervently." Yes and I can grow some beautiful flowers for her," Fiona added.

Olive and Emma smiled. "That are some great ideas, we can give your presents to her later when she's a bit better. That will make her happy, I'm sure," Emma winked at the younger children.

All of the children finished their breakfast very fast so they could get up and prepare something for Miss Peregrine.

Enoch started cleaning up the table and shortly Olive came to help him. Emma joined them in the kitchen. "I might go and check up on Miss Peregrine, seeing how she's doing."

Enoch and Olive looked at Emma and nodded. "I wanted to suggest the same thing," Enoch said. "You could bring her a cup of tea," Olive added."She has to drink something."

"Yes I will do that, thank you Olive." Emma brewed a cup of tea with the water Olive had boiled and went upstairs. She carefully opened the door to Miss Peregrine's room and peaked inside. Miss Peregrine was lying on her right side, her back turned to the door. But as she heard the door she turned around. Seeing Emma she immediately tried to sit up, visibly with a lot of effort. "Is something wrong?" she asked, her voice hoarse from not speaking.

" No, no, everything is fine. I just wanted to bring you some tea. Just lay back down." Emma places the cup of tea on the bedside table and sat down on the edge of the bed while Miss Peregrine struggled to lay back down. She is more exhausted than she wants anyone to see. Emma looked at her ymbryne, worried. "How are you feeling Miss Peregrine? Can I get you anything?"

Miss Peregrine moaned and shook her head, closing her eyes again. "Thank you for the tea though...Are the other children ok? " she asked weakly.

"Yes, they are fine. Of course they asked about you but we managed to take their worries away and they're now preparing presents for you to get better." Miss Peregrine smiled. " Are you sure I can't help you with anything? You really do look sick." Emma strokes her ymbryne's hand. But she just shook her head, barely visible to Emma.

Emma gave up and arranged the blanket over Miss Peregrines body. Then she bent down and brushed a strand of hair out of Miss Peregrines face. Normally she wouldn't do something as intimate as this but in this moment her headmistress just looks so fragile and she's half asleep anyway. As Emma closed the door Miss Peregrine was sleeping again her cup of tea untouched still on the bedside table.

Downstairs Enoch was just finishing cleaning the kitchen and Olive had gone outside with the other children. Their presents for Miss Peregrine were lying on the table in the dining room. Passing the table Emma admired their works. There were pictures from Claire, Bronwyn and the Twins; a wonderful bunch of flowers from Fiona and a candle out of beeswax made by Hugh.

Enoch left the kitchen looking at Emma expectantly." And? How is she? " Emma let go a breath she didn't know she was holding. " I'm not sure. She looks extremely pale and weak even though she still insists on being fine. I think she even might have a temperature but I couldn't be sure."

"Ok, we can't change how it is now but we should keep an eye on her. But now let us go outside and join the others." Enoch winked at Emma and started walking towards the back yard.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The sun was still shining brightly, making the garden look even more lovely and cozy. All of the children except for Emma and Enoch were playing outside quite noisily. Claire held a little tea party with Bronwyn and the twins. They were sitting on a beautiful picnic blanket that Olive had given to them and pretended to drink tea out of little plastic cups while laughing a lot, Claire never letting go of her favorite doll.

Millard, Hugh, Horace and Fiona were playing tag with Olive, who glanced back at the little ones from time to time. Something that was normally Miss Peregrine's duty but Olive didn't want anything happening to them while their headmistress wasn't here.

After Olive had lost for the second time she saw Emma and Enoch coming down the stairs. So did most of the other children who were now running towards them, making a lot of noise talking all at the same time. Of course they all wanted to know how Miss Peregrine was and when they could give her their presents. Emma and Olive had to tell them to be a little more quiet as not to wake up Miss Peregrine. Then Emma told them what she thought would be appropriate for them to know. "Miss Peregrine is still tired and needs to sleep but she is already looking forward to seeing your presents."

"When can we go and see her?" Claire asked impatiently, "Not yet," Emma said. "But I'll tell you as soon as possible. Let's go and play something together now, maybe hide and seek?" They all cheered and ran away searching for good hiding places. Emma began to count.

Olive stayed back with Enoch, taking his hand in hers. " How is she really?"

Enoch moved his thumb over her palm. "Not so good, I guess...She still says she's fine but Emma said she looked horrible and may even have a temperature." Olive dropped her gaze. "That doesn't sound good at all...I was hoping that she would be a bit better." "Yes, me too. But let's try not to worry too much. Maybe it will all end better as we think it will ." He took Olive's hand and kissed it briefly before joining the others.

Upstairs in her room Miss Peregrine was tossing and turning in her bed. She had never been a good sleeper and even now as she was this groggy she could only sleep for a couple of minutes at a time. So instead she listened to her children playing in the garden. It was a beautiful sound hearing them laugh. Some of them were shouting and she could hear her little Claire making something similar to a little speech even though she couldn't make out all the words. _They must have a little tea party, one of Claire's favorite games .They all seem to be happy ._ And that makes Miss Peregrine smile again. But then suddenly it stopped and she couldn't hear them anymore. _What had happened? Why had they stopped laughing?_ There were only some whispers she could detect now. _Are the older ones talking now? Are they talking about her?_ Miss Peregrine didn't like it when her children stopped laughing, it broke her heart. She didn't want them to worry about anything. And apparently it was her fault. She failed them again. She doesn't want to but yet it keeps happening again and again.

All of this thinking made her pounding headache even worse so she tried to relax again. But easier said than done. There wasn't a part of her body that wasn't sore she was constantly changing from feeling hot to cold. As she was covering herself with the blanket once more the talking of her children grew louder and she could hear them laughing and running again. Relieved she relaxed back into her cushions.

Suddenly she heard a thump which made her startle. A second later someone was crying. It was a small voice, someone of her younger children, a girl.

 _Oh no, it's her little Claire! Is she hurt? What happened?_ By now Alma was sitting upright in her bed. She was so distracted that she didn't notice her dizziness coming back in strong waves. _Her little Claire is hurt, she needs her._ Determined, Miss Peregrine tried to move to the edge of her bed and stood up. Cautiously she made her way to the little window on the other side of the room, grasping every piece of furniture near her to prevent her from collapsing to the ground. As she reached the window sill she took a look outside. There she was, her little Claire, sitting on the ground next to the pond among the other children. Alma had to pinch her normally sharp eyes to take a closer look because the headache and dizziness were keeping her from seeing clearly. She could make out Emma kneeling next to Claire, comforting her. They were looking at Claire's left knee which seemed to be bleeding. _Oh no, she must have tripped and fallen to the ground. Poor Claire._ Concentrating really hard Miss Peregrine was able to overhear some of their words. Emma tried to comfort Claire as best as she could but Claire just wouldn't stop crying for her ymbryne. She only wanted to be comforted by Miss Peregrine and couldn't quite understand why she wasn't there. The others were standing around them: Enoch and Olive trying to talk to Claire as well, Bronwyn and Fiona looking worried and Millard, Horace and Hugh standing behind them.

 _Stop! Where are the twins?_ Anxiously Alma looked around but couldn't make them out. Then she spotted them. _Oh no, what are they doing?_ The twins were standing on the old, brittle, wooden footbridge leading into the pond. They were already swaying holding on to each other tightly. One of them was poking into the water with a stick, trying to catch something. They were coming closer to the edge and the wooden boards were threatening to give in. The twins would fall into the pond where the water is quit deep and they can't even swim. _That's disastrous, this can't be happening._ Miss Peregrine's breathing quickened. She didn't know what to do. The other children weren't noticing them as they were all busy trying to calm down Claire.

She opened the window, thinking about calling out to warn them. But it would be no use, her throat was dry and raw from the lack of speaking. They wouldn't hear her, she was too far away. There was just one thing left to do. Alma wasn't sure how it would turn out but saving the twins was her first priority! She gathered all her remaining energy, turned into her bird form and flew out of the window. Barely even making it through the window she felt her strength already leaving her and she was sinking towards the ground. All she could think of, were the twins. _She has to be strong now, for them._ She had reached the edge of the pond, now just 2,5 meters above the ground. Only 20 meters left. The other children had noticed her and were now calling out for her, confused by her strange behavior. But Miss Peregrine couldn't spare just one glance at them, all she concentrated on were the twins now bending over the edge of the footbridge even further. She tried to screech to get their attention but all that came out was a faint rasping noise. It didn't help, she had to reach them before it was too late. Alma couldn't feel her body anymore but tried to fly faster nonetheless. Only 2 meters left now. Miss Peregrine spread her wings as wide as she could and tried to screech again. This time the twins looked up at her, alarmed by the sight. Automatically they took a step back, the wood creaked, the boards were starting to give way. Alma took all the strength she had left, steered towards the twins to push them back to the land. As soon as the twins had one foot on solid ground the footbridge collapsed into the water. Both twins landed on the grass, shivering out of fear and hugging each other tightly. Miss Peregrine could just pull sideways to prevent her from crashing into the twins. She could see the ground coming closer at a rapid pace. She didn't know what to do again and couldn't concentrate on anything. Saving her children had be her goal but now that it was over there was nothing left to hold her together. Crashing to the ground with such speed even from this height will have an unimaginable impact on her fragile bird form. She wouldn't have thought she had any energy left by now but the adrenalin rush gave her body an unexpected power once more and only deciseconds before she hit the ground she turned back to her human form which cushioned some of the crash but didn't make the landing painless. Groaning and without any clothes she found herself lying on the ground.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Everything had happened so fast and none of the children could grasp what had just gone on in front of their eyes. Emma was the first to recover, she grabbed the blanket that was still laying on the grass and sprinted to Miss Peregrine. Enoch followed her and Olive tried to gather all the children and shield Miss Peregrine from their view. Only the twins were still left where they had fallen onto the grass. A few feet away from them Miss Peregrine was lying, now wrapped into the picnic blanket with Emma and Enoch kneeling next to her. She was in a very bad shape, shivering and barely conscious. The previous events had robbed her of what little energy she had left. Her breathing was erratic and way too fast. She was paler than before if that was even possible and she was soaked in cold sweat.

"Miss Peregrine, can you hear me? Are you hurt?" Emma was trying to wake her by shaking her gently but Miss Peregrine just groaned and didn't open her eyes. Emma and Enoch exchanged worried glances. From the corner of her eye Emma could see the others. All of them were scared, Claire was still crying and now even some of the others had some tears in their eyes. None of them wanted to see their ymbryne like this. Olive was trying her best to protect them from seeing everything but to no avail. Then she saw that the twins were still on their own and told Fiona to go to them which she gladly did. She was happy for any distraction and went over to hug the twins as well. She told them that it wasn't their fault but they didn't answer and just cried silently into her shoulder.

Emma had seen enough and concentrated back on Miss Peregrine who began to stir. Slowly she opened her eyes and saw the concerned eyes of Enoch and Emma. She tried to sit up but her body didn't do as she wanted it to. Then she remembered what had happened and tried to take in her surroundings. She was lying on the ground near a tree. To her left she could see the twins hugging Fiona. _Thank god, they are ok…_ To her right she saw Olive with the other ones. Just seeing them so scared broke her heart. Then she heard Emma talking to her.

"Miss Peregrine, can you see me?" Alma tried to move her head and looked directly at Emma.

"Yes that's good. Are you alright, Miss Peregrine?" Emma said very slowly, which was good because Alma still had problems concentrating. Carefully she nodded. She wasn't feeling her best but that wasn't new today. Cautiously she tried to move her arms and legs under the blanket which was no problem and at least didn't hurt more than before the accident. Her head still hurt but that was nothing new either. She was feeling terribly exhausted though, even lifting her head a tiny bit was too much. But all things considered she had been really lucky, this could have ended a lot worse. She gave a quiet moan and closed her eyes again. Emma gently brushed a strand of hair out of Miss Peregrine's face. She was relieved that Miss Peregrine didn't get hurt. But she knew as well that this has been too much for her ymbryne and has postponed her recovery even further.

Emma motioned Bronwyn to come closer. "Hey Bronwyn, don't be scared. Miss P. is alright, just very tired. Could you help us bringing her back to her bed, please?" Bronwyn nodded and together with Enoch they carried Miss Peregrine upstairs .

Olive took all the other children, including the twins, back inside the house to the parlour. She wanted to distract them by reading something out of the tales of the peculiar. Claire had stopped crying and sat on her lap. As Olive opened the book Bronwyn came back down and took her seat next to one of the twins. Enoch returned shortly after her, he had left Emma with Miss Peregrine to give her some privacy.

Upstairs Emma had put a nightgown on Miss Peregrine who was lying on her back. Emma had tried to dry her as best as she could but Miss Peregrine was still sweating and shivering at the same time. Enoch had found a thermometer in Miss Peregrine's bathroom so they could take her temperature which was elevated but not seriously high. Emma moistened a cloth and placed it on Miss Peregrine's forehead, hoping it would reduce the fever and ease Miss Peregrine's headache. Her ymbryne seemed to appreciate it, she took Emma's hand and tried to smile. Emma took Miss Peregrine's hand in both of hers "I'm so sorry Miss Peregrine. It's all our fault. We just didn't take good care of the younger ones. For once we had to take over your responsibility and we messed it up. No wonder you never let us help you. You should have been able to rest and you had to step in instead." Emma hung her head.

"It's ok, Emma. It turned out alright, didn't it? And I'm still your ymbryne and want to help you all whenever I can. You did nothing wrong, you were busy with Claire and who would have thought something like that might happen. I'm just glad that everyone's save now." Alma winked at Emma who seemed to be less sad. "But you're feeling worse now and that wouldn't have been necessary…" "No buts Emma! I have already been sick before the accident, that didn't change much. I'm just really tired now. What time is it?" "It's half past 11 and yes of course you're tired. I'll let you sleep now."

"Thank you, Emma. For everything." Miss Peregrine squeezed Emma's hand. "And tell the others I'm alright and that I don't want anyone worrying about me." "Will do, Miss P. and get better very soon." Emma stood up, changed the wet cloth on Miss Peregrine's forehead and left the room. When she closed the door Miss Peregrine had already fallen asleep again.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Arriving downstairs Emma could already hear Olive's voice, she was reading a story to the other children. Emma opened the door to the parlour, expecting the younger ones sitting around Olive hanging on her every word. But what she saw was quite the opposite. They were sitting around Olive, yes. But they weren't happy, some of them weren't even listening. Now they were looking at Emma.

Fiona was the first to say something: " How is she, Emma, is she hurt ?" Emma shook her head. "No, not at all. She told me to say to you that she's fine and doesn't want you to worry."

"When can we see her?" Millard asked. Emma took in all of their expectant faces. Some of them had cried, Claire and the twins still were. "I'll try to be honest to you. I'm not sure. Miss Peregrine is quite sick. She didn't get hurt but the transformations and the flight took all the energy she needed for her recovery. And now she's really weak and it will take some time for her to get better, longer than we first thought. But don't worry! Miss Peregrine is strong, we all know that and she will be fine again very soon."

"Are you sure?" Bronwyn wanted to know. " Yes I'm sure!" Emma went over to the couch and sat down next to Bronwyn. Claire was still sitting on Olive's lap and Emma could still see some tears making their way down her little cheeks. " Hey Claire, don't worry! I didn't say anything I don't truly believe in. Miss P. will be fine." With her thumb she wiped the tears of Claire's face. " I hope you're right", Claire sobbed." But I want her to be here with us, I want to sit on her lap. She always knows how to make me feel better".

"Yes, she knows how to make all of us feel better." Emma smiled. " Miss P. is the best ymbryne and I know that none of us can replace her but maybe you could put up with us until she's back?" Emma asked, tilting her head to one side.

"Maybe...", Claire answered. "But only if you can find my favourite doll. Miss Peregrine always knows where my toys are when I can't find them. And she always plays with me and my doll when I'm sad. You have to do the same!" Claire declared.

" I will try. But I've got no idea where your doll is, sweetheart. When was the last time you saw her?" Emma tried to find out. " I don't know, I just can't remember." Claire got sad again.

The twins began to caw. They were standing up, trying to tell Emma something but none of the other children understood. Only Miss Peregrine always knows what they're trying to say. They tried to point towards Claire and then towards the garden but without any result. After some while Emma gave up, she stood up and caressed the twin's heads. " I know something we can do", she proclaimed. "I bet you're all starting to get hungry." Some of the children were nodding. " I think we should prepare our lunch and after we've eaten we'll all feel better and can look for your doll, Claire. How does that sound?" The other children were smiling. "That sounds like a really good idea!" Olive said, stood up and put Claire down.

The older children assigned the younger ones to different tasks for the preparations of their meal. Of course Fiona was growing the vegetables and Bronwyn was helping her to carry them inside. The boys were assigned to set the table, get the drinks and peel the potatoes, while Claire and the twins were helping Olive to prepare dessert. Enoch and Emma took care of the meat in the kitchen.

While cutting and roasting it they were talking about the things that had happened earlier, how they could have done a better job and what the twins were doing near the pond in the first place. Then Enoch cooked the vegetables and potatoes while Emma prepared some chicken soup for Miss Peregrine. They had agreed on trying to convince her to eat something.

Olive helped them carrying everything into the dining room and they started eating. Emma only ate a little bit before she took the soup upstairs.

Opening the door with one hand she saw her headmistress lying on the bed on her left side. This time her face was turned towards the door. The wet cloth had slipped of her forehead and was now lying next to her on the bed. Hearing Emma entering Alma opened her eyes, which were still glassy. She didn't look so pale anymore but Emma wasn't fooled by the fever-induced flush on her cheeks. "I brought you some soup," Emma said walking over to the bed. She placed the plate on the bedside table next to the cup of tea. Miss Peregrine smiled. "Is everything alright downstairs?"

"Yes, they are just eating lunch," Emma replied while immersing the cloth back into a bowl of water also standing on the bedside table. "You didn't drink your tea Miss P.," Emma remarked. "No, sorry. I didn't feel like drinking."

"But it's important, you're sweating too much and have to keep your fluids up. You should at least try the soup. We cooked it just for you and used a lot of fresh vegetables from the garden."

"That sounds really good but to be honest: I don't feel like eating either."

"But you need the strength Miss P.! How are you supposed to get better if you don't eat?" Emma said holding out the plate for her."Can you sit up?"

Miss Peregrine sighed but complied and tried to sit up with a little help from Emma who handed her the plate. Alma took 2 spoonfuls of soup. The warm liquid felt soothing to her sore throat even though it hurt a bit to swallow. Then she handed the plate back. " I'm sorry Emma. The soup tastes really good but I can't eat more". Moaning she laid her head back onto her cushions. Emma frowned. "Are you feeling sick, Miss P.?" Alma closed her eyes. She can't deceive Emma when she's feeling well how could she do it now.

" Just a little bit," she admitted. "For how long?" Emma inquired. "Not so long..." Emma knows exactly that her ymbryne tries to play down something like that. "Have you been throwing up?" Miss Peregrine shook her head.

" I can't remember the last time I've been feeling this sick..." she said. " No, I think I've never seen you sick -ever. Maybe a few coughs when we were all ill but not like this. What happened?"

"I wouldn't know. I woke up feeling like this. I must have caught something in town yesterday."

"You were already feeling unwell after dinner yesterday. I noticed you hiding your headache from us," Emma pointed out. "And it wasn't the first time either. Maybe you're working too much," Emma considered.

"Nonsense. It's just the weather."

"You've been looking more tired recently. You may be able to hide something like that from the younger ones but not from us. We older ones want to help more, you know. Maybe this isn't the best time to talk about it but we've been thinking about it for some time now. I know we messed up today but we'll do better next time..."

"Emma, stop!" Miss Peregrine interrupted her. "I've told you already: You didn't mess up anything. It could have happened to me as well and it's not that I don't trust you. But it's an ymbryne's duty to care for her children not the other way round. And you're already helping me enough by doing your daily chores." Alma took Emma's hand and squeezed it.

But Emma wasn't done yet. She had promised Enoch and Olive to sort out the matter. " It doesn't seem to be enough, though. You're still worn out. It can't go on like this forever, one day you will collapse right in front of our eyes." Emma had to pull herself together, otherwise she would have started to cry. Miss Peregrine took Emma's face in her left hand and caressed her cheek.

"Shh, Emma. That won't be happening, I promise. I just haven't been sleeping so good for the last few month, that's all. It will get better again," Alma assured Emma.

"And if it doesn't?"

"Then and only then I will come to you and we'll talk about the things you can do to help, agreed?"

"Agreed!" Emma answered relieved. Miss Peregrine let go of her face, slumped back into her cushions and closed her eyes again. Emma noticed her ymbryne's exhaustion. " I'm sorry! I'm letting you sleep now. But only after you've drunk some tee." Emma winked at Miss Peregrine. "Alright, if I have to," she moaned. Emma held up the cup in front of her headmistress's lips who took some sips before she shook her head and laid back again. Emma placed the cup back on the bedside table and put the wet cloth back on Miss Peregrine's forehead. Then she adjusted the cushions under her head.

"Just one more thing," Alma said. "Could you give me my pocketwatch, please? I'd like to keep track of time." "Of course, Miss P."

Emma found it in the pocket of Miss Peregrine's blue dress which was still lying in front of the window. Emma hung it back into the wardrobe and placed the watch on the bedside table. Alma glanced at it: It was 1.30 p.m.

"Now sleep some more and please call me if you'll need something," Emma said while heading for the door. She knew exactly that Miss Peregrine would never asked for help. At the same time as Emma closed the door Miss Peregrine's eyelids drooped as well.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello everybody! Thank you so much for reading my story and especially leaving such great reviews. Reading them makes me really happy! I hope you all still like the story and I'm really interested to know what you think of everything but still I'm always open for tips and suggestions.**

Chapter 6

After the children had finished their lunch they cleaned up together. As Emma arrived Olive and Claire had just returned from outside. They had been looking for Claire's doll which was last seen during their little tea party. Unfortunately they weren't successful. Emma could see that Claire was almost crying again so she went to her.

"Hey Claire, don't give up. We will find her, I promise," she said and let her hand play with Claire's beautiful curls, careful not to touch her backmouth. Claire seemed to believe her and ran over to Bronwyn.

Relieved Olive updated Emma on their new plans for the afternoon. They had all decided to use their free time to clean up the whole house- something that was long overdue. Miss Peregrine had been talking about it for some time but they had never started. When she will be better the children wanted her to come down to a perfectly looking house. They imagined she would be so proud of them and hoped that it will show her that they can take over more responsibility.

"That's a wonderful idea", Emma proclaimed. "What can I do to help?"

" I guess you could start vacuuming, Olive suggested. " Bronwyn and Fiona are tidying these rooms downstairs, Claire and the twins wanted to clean up the playroom and Enoch is taking the boys to clean all the windows."

"Oh, I hope they will be careful. We don't need another drama today..." Emma remarked.

" I made Enoch promise to take good care," Olive said, then she went to clean the bathroom. Soon the little ones were finished with the playroom which looked well organized, at least for now. They joined Emma who was now vacuuming the parlour. She told them to make some handmade window decoration. " You know Miss Peregrine loves them. She will be so happy to see them". Cheerfully they went off again. This went on for some time.

Suddenly Hugh and Fiona came rushing into the room. Fiona had gone outside to grow some flowers for decorating. Hugh, who was cleaning a window had seen her and offered to help.

Now they were standing in front of Emma, trying to catch their breaths. " Relax! Take a deep breath and then tell us what happened", Olive said who had just come out of the bathroom. From their angle neither she nor Emma could see that Fiona was carrying something, wrapped inside her jacket.

"We found this", Fiona said revealing a little, brown, fluffy bundle. " It was lying near the patch where Fiona was growing some flowers", Hugh added. Only now could Emma and Olive see what they were talking about. There on Fiona's hand was a tiny baby squirrel. Seemingly it had opened his eyes not long ago, it looked so small and helpless.

"Wow, that's so cute!" Bronwyn exclaimed, she had just entered the parlour and ran towards Fiona. "Where did you find it?" Emma inquired. " You can't just take it with you, it needs to be with his mother."

"But it was all alone and there was nothing close by, no tree where there could have been a drey or something." Fiona tried to justify herself.

"Yes, it seems to be on his own, can we keep it, please?" Bronwyn begged.

"No we can't, Bronwyn", Emma tried to explain. " It's an animal, it has to live with his own kind. We don't know anything about squirrels. We wouldn't be able to bring it through. You can understand that, right?"

"I think so", Bronwyn answered.

"But they are right, Emma, We can't put it back to where they found it. It will die." Olive said. "Maybe its mother will find it, they sometimes do," Emma pointed out.

Meanwhile the other boys had come back as well and all of the children were standing around Fiona. "I don't think it will work. It's smelling of us, the mother won't take it back," Olive answered.

"No that's not right", Millard joined in. "I've read about it. The smell doesn't bother the squirrel mothers. They just won't take their babies back if they're too cold."

"Is that right, Millard?" Emma asked. Millard nodded. "Okay, here is what we'll do: Fiona, you make sure that this little one is warm and then you put it back where you found it. If it's still there later today we will try to bring it through. Do you know something about that too, Millard?" "No, but I can find you the book with all the information about it." "Okay. You can do that if we have to take it back inside." Emma answered. After Emma had finished Fiona went over to a couch, sat down and took the squirrel close to her body to warm it. The other children were all gathering around them. Only Emma, Olive and Enoch were left near the door. " Speaking of squirrels. With all the chaos today we have to remember our duties. I can't forget to put the other baby squirrel back to where it comes from, you will help me Enoch, right?" "Of course I will. But can't we just take Fiona's squirrel and put it back there as well?" Enoch thought aloud. "I don't think that it will work, Enoch," Emma laughed. "But there's something else we need to talk about as well: It's already 3 o'clock. We have to think about what we're doing with the hollow."

"Yes, you're right, I was thinking about that too", Enoch said thoughtfully. "What's there to think about?" Olive asked. " The hollow will come so someone has to shoot him. And since none of us can do it, we have to get Miss Peregrine. Emma, you spoke to her. Can she do it?" "I'm not sure Olive. I guess so but she is really weak and we have to think about the reset tonight. That's something that only Miss Peregrine can do and she needs to gather more energy for it." "Emma is right", Enoch said, "I will do it." "No you can't, Enoch! It's way too dangerous", Olive begged.

"Yes, Enoch. Are you sure you can do it?" Emma asked. "I do. I've shot a crossbow before and I wasn't even bad. I guess it's our best bet." "If you say so. But you will have to convince Miss Peregrine as well, I don't think she will forget something like that", Olive remarked. " No probably not. But let's save the talk for later. I want her to sleep as long as possible," Emma ended the conversation. The older children finished the last of their cleaning tasks while the little ones were sitting in front of the window observing the spot where Fiona had placed the baby squirrel. So far no other Squirrel had come to get it.

Emma and Enoch were just putting away the vacuum cleaner and the tools for the window cleaning as they heard a creaking from the staircase. Just one look at each other was enough and they rushed into the corridor where Miss peregrine was descending the staircase. She had put on a dressing gown and held onto the banister while trying to set one foot in front of the other.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

" Miss Peregrine! What are you doing?" Emma shouted. Together with Enoch she sprinted towards her swaying headmistress to steady her.

" You should be in bed," Enoch said concerned. " I can't, its already quarter to 4. I have to go and kill the hollow," Miss Peregrine answered and tried to go past Enoch and Emma who wouldn't let her.

"About that...," Enoch began. "We talked about it and came to the conclusion that it would be best if I shot the hollow today. I..."

" No way! It's way too dangerous for you, Enoch. You can't see it coming and you don't have enough experience to do it without," Alma interrupted him.

"But think about it, Miss Peregrine. You're still weak, you barely made it down the stairs. And you need your strength for the reset tonight. Enoch has shot a crossbow before, I think he can do it," Emma tried to convince her.

Miss Peregrine wanted to object again but considered what Emma had said. Just thinking about carrying the heavy crossbow made her want to lie down again. _Her children are right. She wasn't fit enough to do it. But what if something happened to Enoch, she would never forgive herself. This hollow can't take another one of her children._ Alma sighed and both children could see the indecision in her ymbryne's eyes. " Ok," Alma finally said. "But you have to be very careful. This is no game and you have to do it exactly as I'm telling you!" "Of course Miss P.," Enoch agreed listening attentively. "I'll give you my pocketwatch and you have to orientate yourself to the time. You know where my crossbow is, right?" Alma asked. As Enoch nodded she continued: " You take it and go towards the cliff, you stop amounting to the biggest broom bush, approximately 4 meters before the marks on the ground. Then you wait and check the time. You can hear it coming and at about 30 seconds to 4 o'clock you will be able to see it's shadow near the cliff. At 20 seconds to 4 you can begin to aim, start to count and release the arrow at 2 seconds to 4. The angle should be a bit more than 90 degrees, you can orientate yourself to the shadow. If you do it exactly like this it will work and the hollow will die immediately. If not, you have to hope that it at least distracted him enough for you to recharge again. Then you can only guess where it is based on his shadow. But at this time of the day it works pretty good. If you won't be successful with your third attempt you come running inside immediately and get me, understood?" Enoch nodded, not so sure anymore that he can do it. _But he has to, he's the only one except for Miss Peregrine._

He took the pocketwatch from Miss Peregrine and set off to get the crossbow. Emma brought their ymbryne back to her room. She guided her to the bed but Alma stopped. " No, I want to watch him," she said and walked to the right window where she hasd a good view towards the shore.

"Are you sure you can stand for that long?" Emma asked concerned. " Yes, Miss Bloom. I'm still capable of standing on my own, but thank you for your concern," Miss Peregrine replied and smiled at her. She positioned herself in front of the window next to her bed. " And please go down to the other children. If something happens, I don't want them to be alone." Emma nodded and left her ymbryne to herself.

Two minutes to 4 o'clock Enoch arrived at the cliff. He found the right position and charged the crossbow. Then he checked the time: still one minute left. He observed the edge of the cliff and thought he could hear something movimg through the grass. Soon he was able to see the shadow. It was huge, he had never seen something like it. He used to secretly watch Miss Peregrine shoot the hollow a few times but from afar it never looked so scary. He gathered all his courage and checked the watch one more time. It was 25 seconds to 4 now. He tried to aim exactly as Miss Peregrine had told him to but he was shivering too much. The crossbow was heavier than he remembered it to be and even though he didn't like to admit it he was scared. He counted in his head but wasn't sure if it was to fast or too slow. He could hear the hollow clearly now, he thought he was even able to smell it. But the tremor in his hand got worse. On 18 Enoch pulled the trigger. He could hear the arrow boring into the hollows flesh and it fell backwards. But Enoch could still hear it's breathing. It wasn't dead. Quickly Enoch recharged the crossbow, he concentrated on the shadow and tried to reconstruct the hollow's posture. He focused on where he thought the head had to be and shot again. This time he must have hit a vital body part. He believed he could hear the hollow cry out in pain and his breathing became more erratic. Enoch wasn't sure if it was enough though. Just in case he recharged again and focused on the shadow. It seemed that it was lying on the ground now, so it was easier to imagine where his head was. To make sure it was really dead he shot a third time, right into his head. Enoch waited some more minutes of total silence before he made his way back up to the house, now completely sure that he had killed it.

From upstairs Miss Peregrine had observed everything. She was unbelievably proud of her biggest boy. He did brilliantly! Of course he needed a few attempts but she did too in the beginning. It took her more than a year to perfect the procedure. Maybe their children were right and she should let them take over more responsibility. She decided to think about it later and went to lay down again. She tried to drink some of the tea that was still standing there. It was cold by now but that didn't bother her. _Emma was right, she needed the fluids. If one of her children was sick she would make them drink as well._ After three sips she put the cup back. Alma still felt sick to her stomach so she laid down again.

 _What a day so far...So much had happened..Thankfully all had turned out well till now and hopefully the reset will as well. She would just have to rest some more._

Alma had rolled onto her side and was now facing the door again. She curled into a slight ball because she felt a dull pain in her stomach, that she hoped would go away soon. Luckily sleep came over her shortly afterwards.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Downstairs all the children were running towards Enoch as he entered the house. Emma had told them what Enoch had been doing and now they were all cheering.

"Wow, Enoch! How did you do it?" Millard asked. "Yes, you weren't even able to see it," Horace pointed out. Enoch had recovered from the shock outside and was now enjoying the attention of the others. Olive had hugged him as soon as he had opened the door and hadn't left his side ever since. _He should do something like that more often._

"Oh, it wasn't a big deal. I just aimed and shot him. With a loud bang he collapsed to the ground and was dead," Enoch boasted, holding the crossbow up in the air.

" You did really well, Enoch," Emma praised him. "I bet Miss Peregrine is really proud of you."

"I would hope so. And perhaps it will make her change her mind about everything." "Maybe...," Emma answered. " But now we have to go outside again, Enoch. You have to help me with the squirrel, which reminds me: Children, what happened to your squirrel?"

" It was still there the last time we checked.. That's not a good sign, is it?" Fiona asked.

"No I guess not. We will bring it inside when we return. Millard, could you look for the book you were talking about?" Emma asked.

All the children were cheering and looking forward to caring for the little creature. Millard hurried away to go looking for the book while Enoch and Emma left.

Olive tried to calm down the other children who were already making plans for the baby squirrel. Claire and Bronwyn were gathering little pieces of fabric to make a bed and Fiona and Hugh were looking for a little bottle they could use to feed it. Millard had returned and was now reading about baby squirrels and raising animals. From time to time he would call out what he had read. "We'll need some fennel tea, honey salt and a syringe."

"I'm sure we have the first three things but I don't know about the syringe," Olive said. "What do we need it for?"

"It says that the squirrel needs fluids first. But you're not allowed to feed it milk because it might be too weak yet. And we'll need the syringe to feed just tiny amounts," Millard explained.

"Okay, I guess we can manage that... what else is there to do?" Olive wanted to know.

"We have to check it for injuries, it will need a quiet place to rest and later it will need real food, " Millard listed. "And what would that be?" Olive inquired.

"It depends on the age, but our squirrel is quite young so we have to mix fennel tea with milk and vitamins like a bit of juice. It says that you should use special kitten milk replacer but condensed milk will do too. Later on you can add mashed fruit. When it can eat on its own it eats several kinds of nuts, fruit or vegetable which isn't until his 8th week. Furthermore it needs a lot of water to drink," Millard said.

"That sounds manageable too. What else is there that could become a problem?" "I don't know. I haven't stumbled upon something yet. It's important to massage its stomach after the meals to help him digest. Oh and that's not easy: At the beginning it has to be fed every 2 hours," Millard explained.

"Ok that will be difficult but we'll manage. There are enough of us to help and it's not such an effort if you can save a life," Olive said.

As Emma and Enoch returned Millard had read everything the book had about squirrels and had put it aside. All the children were running towards Emma who held the baby squirrel in her hand. Enoch put the robe aside and than they were all sitting down on the couch. Olive told Emma and Enoch what Millard had found out, all of the children were listening carefully.

"See, that's what I meant," Emma said. " It's quite difficult but I think we can do it. You said we needed a syringe, is it inevitable?" Olive and Millard nodded.

"I know where we can find one," Enoch said. "I've seen some in Miss Peregrine's medicine cabinet when I fetched the thermometer. I could get it."

"That's great!" Olive exclaimed and Enoch stood up to go upstairs.

"Ok that's that then," Emma said stroking the squirrel with her thumb. It was scrambling around on her hand. "Where do we leave it though?"

" Millard said it needs a quiet place but also needs a lot of body contact while it's still young," Olive explained to Emma. " I suggest we'll use the little bed that Claire and Bronwyn made. We can place it in the winter garden. And for the rest of the time someone can carry it around in a belt bag, what do you think?"

"That should work. But we have to set some rules! I don't want you all standing around the squirrel the whole time. As Millard said, it needs rest too. And before someone takes it out of his bed, you come and ask one of us first," Emma stated.

The children nodded.

"But what shall we call it?" Claire asked. "She's right, it needs a name!" Bronwyn added.

"I think we should call him Peanut, he looks like he is male," Fiona suggested. The others seemed to agree.

"Ok, Peanut it is then," Emma said and placed him on the little bed made out of a cardbox and some fabric. Then Enoch returned with two syringes. "Are these ok?" he asked. The girls nodded.

"Okay, I will leave him here in the parlour for now while Olive and I prepare his first meal," Emma informed the others. "Meanwhile you could decide what we want to have for dinner."

Enoch and the others went to the dining room and gathered ideas while Emma and Olive mixed the tea with honey and salt. Back in the parlour they used the syringe to feed it to Peanut.

Interested in seeing it the other children came back and informed Emma and Olive that they had decided on pizza.

"Of course," Emma laughed. " As soon as Miss Peregrine isn't here to make you eat something healthy you take advantage of it. But yes, I guess we can do that. I think we might have all the ingredients."

"Speaking of Miss Peregrine, when can we finally see her?" Hugh asked. All of the other children joined in: "Yes we want to give her our presents."

Emma sighed again. She seemed to have to answer this question a lot today. But she can't blame them. The last time they had seen their ymbryne she was lying on the grass, not moving or speaking. Of course they are worried.

"I know this is hard for you," she begins." But I'm sure that Miss Peregrine will come to see you as soon as she feels up to it. It might be today or not until tomorrow. I'm going to check on her later, then I can tell you more."

Not all of the children were happy with her answer but it will have to do for now.

After the squirrel had drunk enough Emma massaged him until he peed und placed him into her belt bag. He fell asleep immediately, exhausted from the eventful day.

Together they prepared everything for their Pizza. Olive made the dough, Emma the sauce and the others were cutting everything else they wanted to put on their pizza. After some time Millard and Hugh were making their way outside into the corridor without anyone noticing them. They had been whispering for the last 20 minutes.

"It's not fair that only Emma gets to see Miss Peregrine," Hugh complained. "I know," Millard said. "But I got an idea. I could undress and go upstairs. Then I can sneak into Miss Peregrine's room without anyone noticing and I can tell you how she is." Hugh agreed, he had always thought that doing something forbidden was tempting. Together they went upstairs to the first floor. Hugh took the clothes that Millard gave him after undressing and waited there while Millard made his way to Miss Peregrine's room.

Carefully Millard opened the door and peaked inside. It was dim since the sun outside began to set but he could see Miss Peregrine lying on her bed. He wasn't sure if she was sleeping. If she was, it definitely wasn't a restless sleep. She was tossing and turning and he thought that he could sometimes hear her moan. What he saw scared Millard. From what Emma had said he wasn't expecting to see something like that. Emma must have lied to them and Miss Peregrine was feeling worse than Emma had said.

Then he got alarmed even more. Downstairs he could hear Fiona going upstairs and then talking to Hugh. Quickly he closed the door as quiet as he could and went back to Hugh who was trying to distract Fiona.

"What are you doing here? Emma told me to look for you and Millard, where is he anyway? And why are you carrying his clothes? Fiona asked.

Hugh didn't know what to say. "Um...err...Millard gave me his clothes because he wanted to take a bath," he tried to lie.

"That's right!" Millard confirmed and took back his clothes. "And I'm ready, so we can go back downstairs now."

" Do you think I'm stupid?" Fiona asked. "If you do, I'm not. I know exactly what you're doing. You wanted to sneak into Miss Peregrine's room. I heard you whispering before. But you can't we're not allowed to."

"We weren't..." Hugh tried to explain himself. "Oh come on, I know you two. I'm going to tell the others.," Fiona said and went.

"No! You can't! Please, Fiona," Hugh begged and tried to hold her back.

Fiona turned around again. "See, I knew it!"

"Hugh! Why did you say that. She had no proof," Millard said.

"I'm sorry, Millard. It just slipped out..." Hugh tried to explain. "But Fiona won't tell anybody. Right, Fiona? Because nothing happened yet. Please!"

"Okay..." Fiona sighed. "But only if you come down with me now and won't walk off again."

"Yes, okay..." Millard said, "Then let's go now." Together they went back into the kitchen where the others had finished the topping of the pizza.

"There you are. Where have you been? We've waited but because you weren't coming we decided which topping you get," Emma said.

"That's alright," Millard said and pushed Hugh towards their seats.

Carefully Emma, Olive and Enoch put the pizza into the oven and started to set the table. The other children went into the dining room, sat down and watched Peanut who was now sleeping in his bed in the conservatory. Together they planned what they would do with Peanut. "I want him to play with me and my dolls," Claire said. "But Claire, he is no toy and he is way too young to do something like that with him," Fiona explained. "I want to feed and massage him tomorrow."

"And I want to carry him around like Emma did earlier," Bronwyn said. The twins seemed to be happy as well gurgling and looking at each other.

Outside it started raining, which didn't bother the children much. They had it warm and dry inside and as long as there was no thunder or lightning none of them were scared.

20 minutes later the older ones served the pizza and all the children lunged at their pieces. It was their favorite dish which sadly Miss Peregrine rarely allows them to eat. They were all happy and laughing a lot. Most of them had already forgotten what had happened today. Just Millard was unusually sad. He was thankful that no one was able to see him. After seeing his headmistress like that he was still scared.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

At the same time Miss Peregrine was just leaving her room. She had been trying to sleep for some time now but her stomach pain had become worse. Now she wanted to get the hot-water bag and fill it with boiling water from downstairs. She knew that her children were now dining so she hoped that she wouldn't come across anyone. In the kitchen she put the kettle on and sat down while she was waiting. She could hear her children's laughter from next door. Alma just had to smile, she was happy that they had obviously forgotten about all the bad things that had happened today. Before the kettle could make any noise she took it off the stove, filled the hot-water bag and went outside into the corridor.

But before she could go upstairs again the door opened and Claire came out of the dining room.

"Miss P.!" Claire shouted and ran towards her beloved ymbryne. She hugged her legs tightly. Alma quickly took the hot-water bag to the side so her little girl didn't burn herself. "Finally you're here again!"Claire said happily."Come inside the parlour, you have to see the presents we made for you and you have to meet Peanut," Claire begged and took her ymbryne's hand. She tried to pull her towards the dining room. Miss Peregrine sighed silently. She just wanted to lay down again. Her headache had intensified during her little walk and the dizziness was back as well. But her little Claire just looked so happy so Alma just couldn't refuse her request and followed her into the dining room.

Inside, Enoch and Emma were just clearing the table. The children had opened the big door towards the parlour and Olive was lighting the two fireplaces in both rooms.

The children wanted to sit down together and enjoy the evening talking and laughing in front of the fireplace before watching Horace's dreams and going to bed.

As soon as they saw Miss Peregrine they rushed up to her, hugging her, all talking at the same time. "Miss Peregrine!" "You're back." Come and have a look at the things we made for you" "Yes come here, you have to see Peanut!"

As Emma looked up and saw Miss Peregrine she got angry. "Claire! What were you thinking? I thought I had made myself clear that I don't want anyone of you disturbing Miss Peregrine! You said you just wanted to use the bathroom."

"I did!" Claire protested. "At least I wanted to but then I met Miss Peregrine."

Emma gave Claire a doubting look.

"She's right Emma, she didn't come and get me," Alma defended Claire. Emma was confused. "Then I have to scold you for being out of bed again. What were you doing?" Then Emma could see the hot-water bag that Miss Peregrine was still holding in her left hand.

"Are you in pain?" she asked concerned. "It's not that bad," Miss Peregrine tried to downplay her symptoms and put on a happy face. The other children were way to distracted to notice her headmistress hiding her discomfort but of course Emma couldn't be fooled.

"I think you should go back upstairs again," she said. "No!" The children began to shout again. "We want to show Miss Peregrine everything."

"Children," Emma began. "You can do that later. Miss Peregrine is still sick and needs to rest!"

"No, it's fine," Alma intervened. "I guess I can stay here with you for a while." She smiled while caressing Claire's head with her right hand.

Emma sighed. Why did her ymbryne have to be so stubborn. "At least lay down on the couch, please," Emma said taking the hot-water bag from Alma's hand.

Miss Peregrine nodded and walked over into the parlour together with the twins holding her hands.

Emma made her lay down, placed the hot-water bag on her stomach and adjusted the blanket and cushions. "I'll bring you some tea," she added. Alma moaned. "No buts, Miss P! We've still got some fennel tea left. It will be good for your stomach," Emma decided and left for the kitchen.

"What did you need fennel tea for?" Miss Peregrine asked confused turning towards Olive who had just joined them. "For Peanut of course," Bronwyn answered. "Who is Peanut?" Miss Peregrine asked now even more confused. "You have to meet him," Fiona said. "Can we show him to Miss P., Olive? Please!"

"Yes we can, but please wait for Emma. She will get him for you," Olive answered and joined Enoch who was still cleaning the rest of their dinner.

"Meanwhile we can get our presents," Claire suggested and went off towards the small table in the dining room where Emma had put them. Hugh and Fiona followed and the twins began to gurgle excitedly.

Miss Peregrine was happy to see her children like that. No one, not even the twin seemed to be traumatized by this morning's events. She let her head fall back into the cushions and took a deep breath. The others were still talking to her: Bronwyn couldn't stop talking about this Peanut, the twins kept on making happy noises and Horace added something now and then. Just Millard seemed abnormally quiet. From the dining room she could hear the others arguing about who would show his present first. They would soon be back, so she closed her eyes for a few seconds. Her head was still troubling her and all this noise was making it worse. The warmth had slightly reduced her stomach cramps but they were still there, adding to her discomfort, as were the dizziness and nausea.

Suddenly she felt someone tugging at her sleeve. She opened her eyes and saw Claire waving a picture at her. It looked like a typical Claire-picture, but still beautiful. Actually Alma could see the change in her painting skills, which seemed to have improved a lot lately.

"That looks beautiful," she said. "Is that you there in the middle?" "Yes and you are here", Claire pointed at something that seemed like a kind of bird. " Oh yes, that's right. I can see it now. Thank you very much, Claire." Alma gave Claire a kiss on her head as Emma returned with a cup of tea in her hand. She gave it to her ymbryne and urged her to drink. Then she sat down on the other couch next to Millard and Horace. She looked out of the window and saw that the raining had increased. From far away she thought she could hear thunder. Hopefully the thunderstorm won't come closer. Emma knew that a lot of the others were scared of thunder and lightning.

Miss Peregrine was now looking at the other presents praising their creators as well. " Thank you so much, all of you. These are great. I will hang up the pictures in my room and your candle, Hugh, I will find a wonderful place for it on my desk and also for your beautiful flowers Fiona. Lupines are my favorite flowers," Alma said and gave a smile to all of them.

"Can we get Peanut now," Bronwyn asked. "Yes we can," Emma said and stood up to get the baby squirrel. The other children got even more excited. Enoch and Olive joined them as Emma gave the bed with squirrel in it to Fiona who proudly presented it to Miss Peregrine. All the children were cheering. Of course Miss Peregrine was really surprised but then she was overwhelmed by Peanut's cuteness. "Wow, he is so tiny. How did you find him?" she asked. The children explained everything to her: That he must have fallen out of a drey, whose location was unknown, that Fiona had found him and that his mother didn't take him back. They told her about everything that Millard had found out and that they had already fed him once. Miss Peregrine was impressed by the knowledge her children had acquired and that they had managed all on their own.

From her place on the couch Emma was observing the whole situation. She still wasn't sure that being here with them was good for her headmistress. Miss Peregrine didn't look good. From time to time Emma could see her closing her eyes or rubbing her temples. But most of the time she hid it very well and was laughing with the other kids. Then Claire wanted to show her ymbryne the window decoration they had made for the conservatory. Miss Peregrine who was still lying on the couch with Peanut on her lap gave him to Fiona and tried to sit up to follow Claire. But then she felt a strong pain in her stomach and winced which she couldn't hide quickly enough. Emma intervened immediately. "Okay, children, that's enough. Miss Peregrine needs more rest. Besides, Peanut needs to be fed again. Could you all please bring him back into the conservatory, I'll be with you soon," she said and shooed them towards the dining room.

Miss Peregrine wanted to say something, that she was okay and could stay here with them longer. But Emma was right: she wasn't well enough yet. Defeated, she laid her head in her hands.

"I'll bring you upstairs Miss P." Emma said. "But before, let me exchange the hot water," she pointed at the hot-water bag. Miss Peregrine gave it to her. "Thank you but you don't have to go with me, I'll be fine on my own."

"Are you sure? I'm sorry but you still do look quite weak," Emma pointed out. "I'm sure, really," Miss Peregrine said which Emma accepted. She then went towards the kitchen to replace the water. When she returned she helped Miss Peregrine up and gave it to her. "Call if you'll need help," she said. " I'll come and check on you later. And I think you should put the wet cloth back on your forehead again. You do look quite flushed, your fever might have risen further."

"Yes, thank you Emma. I'll do that," Alma said and left the room.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Emma joined the others. Olive had already prepared the milk and was now filling the syringe with it.

"Emma, I think you should feed him again. It's too difficult for me to empty the syringe slowly with my gloves on," she said. Emma nodded and took the syringe. "Is that the right amount, Olive?" she asked. "Yes, these are exactly 2ml. Millard said it was the right amount for a squirrel at this age." Emma nodded, she remembered that Millard had said that it was important not to overfeed squirrels because their feeling of satiety starts too late for them to stop drinking on their own.

While Emma was feeding Peanut, Fiona watched intently. "Emma, could I feed him tomorrow, please. I'd like to try it once."

"Of course, Fiona. Can you see how I do it? You hold him with your left hand and place the tip of the syringe in front of his mouth. Then you press very carefully," Emma explained.

After feeding and massaging him Emma placed Peanut back in his bed on the sofa in the conservatory.

"Ok Children, it's now half past 7. I want you all to get ready for bed and then we'll drink some hot chocolate and can watch Horace's dreams before we go to sleep," Emma decided.

The children ran away to change their clothes. Emma, Enoch and Olive prepared the cups of hot chocolate.

Claire was the first one who came back. She walked towards Emma.

"We still haven't found my doll," she whined. " I want my doll for the movie."

Emma lifted Claire and sat her on her lap. "Look, sweetheart. I know you miss your doll but she can't be far away. We just haven't seen her yet. I'm sure that she is here somewhere and enjoys her time until we find her tomorrow." Emma gave Claire a kiss on her head and put her down again.

Gradually the others came back down and took their places on the couches. Enoch and Olive served the hot chocolate while Emma switched off the light and Horace began to project his last dreams onto the screen.

 _The picture becomes clearer. There is the orphanage, it's a sunny day, the children are playing outside, then there are the twins, standing on the footbridge poking around in the water. The picture becomes blurry again and they can see Miss Peregrine lying on her bed, then she's standing in her room, looking out of the window. In the next scene is a squirrel lying on the ground and afterwards on a small hand. Thereupon they can see themselves, eating dinner and laughing. The picture gets dark, there is the sky, a lot of clouds, it's raining, then there's thunder and lightning. The lighting strikes, a tree somewhere in a wood is burning. Some branches fall to the ground. Suddenly the scene changes again. The children are in the parlour, it's dark and stormy outside. There are a lot of mattresses in the parlour, along with all of their blankets and cushions. Some of them are sleeping but the majority is awake. Claire is sitting next to Olive, her cheeks are tear-stained again. Fiona comes and gets Olive. Enoch takes over from her and comforts Claire. Olive and Fiona are in the kitchen, then in the conservatory. Change of scene again. Emma is upstairs running through the corridors, she looks tired. Next, Emma is downstairs, talking to Enoch..._

Emma switched the light on again. The children were whispering anxiously. Some of them got scared by the scenes in Horace's dream."That's it for today," Emma said. "Thank you, Horace. Time for bed now!"

"No!" the children protested. "We don't want to go to bed yet," Bronwyn said.

"Yes, what about the reset? We're always allowed to see it," Hugh said.

"Not today!" Emma decided. " I want you to sleep now."

"But what about the thunderstorm of Horace's dream?," Claire asked worried. "It looked pretty bad," Fiona added. "Can we sleep all in the parlour, like we just saw? Please?" Bronwyn asked. "Yes, please!" All the children were begging.

"No, that's not possible, children. Please go to your rooms," Emma said. "But I'm scared in my room alone when there's a thunderstorm," Claire whined. "Me too," Fiona and Bronwyn added. "Miss P. always comes and sits with us until we're asleep."

Emma sighed. "Olive can go upstairs with you and bring you to bed. And I'm coming after the reset, too."

"That's not fair!" Millard said. "We want to see the reset as well. It's too early to go to bed."

"Ok, ok," Emma sighed again."You can have one last hot chocolate here in the parlour and can watch the reset out of the window. But afterwards you're going to bed, understood?"

Some of the children nodded, others still weren't happy with it but didn't dare say another word.

The older children gathered all the cups and went into the kitchen to refill them. "We're fine here, Emma," Olive said. "You should go upstairs and get Miss Peregrine."

"Yes, it's already 10 minutes to 9. I don't know how much time she will need to get ready. It's better you're early instead of being too late." Enoch suggested. "I'll bring a chair outside, so she can sit down."

"That's a great idea Enoch, thank you. Ok I will go. You're alright here with the younger ones?" Emma asked. Enoch and Olive nodded. "We'll be fine."

Olive finished the last cups, Enoch carried a chair outside and Emma went to get Miss Peregrine.

In the parlour the others were discussing everything. The boys were still unhappy about Emma's decision to not let them come outside and the girls were still worried about the thunderstorm and wanted to sleep together in the parlour.

In the corridor Emma passed the coat rack and grabbed Miss Peregrines coat on the way. Then she took Miss Peregrine's pocketwatch and the table clock off the side table.

She hurried upstairs and opened Miss Peregrine's door quietly. But the state of her headmistress got her alarmed. Miss Peregrine was laying on her bed, curled up in a fetal position. Emma took in her strained expression, she seemed to be in a lot of pain.

For a short moment Emma considered letting her sleep and calling another ymbryne for help but it was too late for that now. Carefully Emma went towards her ymbryne and touched her shoulder very gently. "Miss Peregrine?" Alma reacted by looking at Emma, her eyes were even glassier than before and she was shivering again. "I'm sorry to wake you but it's time for the reset," Emma explained.

"Yes, of course. Sorry, I've forgotten the time," Alma said while trying to sit up. Emma gave her a hand."You're feeling a lot worse, are you?" she guessed concerned.

" A bit...," Alma admitted, dazed. "It wouldn't be too bad if it wasn't for these stomach cramps." She sighed and gathered some energy to stand up. Promptly she felt dizzy again and began to sway. Emma grabbed her arm and steadied her. "I'm sorry, Miss P. When the reset is done you can return to your bed and sleep as long as you need to."

She helped her ymbryne putting on the coat and together they went slowly down the stairs and outside. Emma had to take over most of Miss Peregrine's weight and was therefore glad that Enoch had brought out the chair. She supported her headmistress until she was sitting. Then she handed her the table clock and her pocket watch. It was 5 minutes past 9, so just 2 minutes left. Miss Peregrine leaned into the back of the chair and took a deep breath. She was so exhausted and thought she had never felt this bad before. Emma had placed her hand on her shoulder and her thumb was stroking her gently. Alma didn't like looking weak in front of her children but at least the others had stayed inside. Then it was time to reset the loop. Miss Peregrine took the pocketwatch into her right hand and started to rewind the time. For everyone else it must look like a piece of cake but only she knew how difficult it was. It takes a lot of concentration and energy. While the surroundings quickly changed Alma felt her dizziness return. Everything around her started to spin and to just because she was reversing the time. If she hadn't been sitting she would have collapsed to the ground. Finally it was dark again and then the table clock switched back to the 2nd of September and it was 7 minutes past 9 again. Emma had seen her ymbryne's condition deteriorating very fast and wanted to bring her back to her room as quickly as possible. Around them it was still raining and the storm had increased as well. Thunder and lightning weren't far away anymore. Miss Peregrine was shivering and barely responsive. Her forehead was coated with cold sweat and she looked really pale. Emma heaved her up and half carried her inside. As they entered through the kitchen, Enoch was already waiting in the corridor. He put Miss Peregrine's second arm around his neck and together they managed to bring her upstairs. They had only just entered her room as Miss Peregrine broke away and stumbled towards her bathroom clutching at everything she passed. She barely made it inside as her stomach clenched and she threw up into the toilet bowl.


	11. Chapter 11

**Hi everyone who is still reading!**

 **I can't believe that it's already the 12th chapter. Thank you so much for all the amazing reviews, it really makes me happy to read them! I just wanted you to know, that I'm going away for the weekend and I don't know if I will be able to update from there. There will definitely be another update on Tuesday at the latest.**

Chapter 11

Downstairs Olive had her hands full with the younger children. They still didn't want to go to bed, at least not in their own rooms. Claire had began to cry again because she was scared that the lightning might hit the house. And also the twins and Bronwyn winced every time they heard the thunder.

Desperately Olive tried to distract them by reading stories but they were barely listening and missed their headmistress too much. Fiona and Hugh had gone into the conservatory to get Peanut because he needed to be fed again.

"Olive, could you please show me how to prepare Peanuts meal?", Fiona asked carefully. She knew that Olive had enough on her plate already. But she didn't want to do it the wrong way, which could have lethal consequences for the baby squirrel.

"Could you just wait a second, please?," Olive asked a little bit annoyed. She didn't want to be mean to Fiona, she knew that she was doing the best she could. But it was just getting too much here. Olive hoped that Emma and Enoch would return soon so they could give her a hand.

Fiona was surprised by Olive's reaction. She had never seen her like this. Olive saw that Fiona was taking her harsh tone to heart. "I'm sorry, Fiona. I didn't mean it like that. It's just that I don't know what to do first, with all the little ones crying," Olive sighed. "Claire, please don't be scared anymore, we're all together and nothing's going to happen. " Olive tried to put Claire down but she began to cry even more. Olive was now running out of patience. She called Horace and Millard: "Could you two please help me here? I can't do this alone. Please take care of the little ones while I go to the kitchen with Fiona and Hugh." Horace put away the book he was reading in the other corner of the room and went over to sit down next to Claire and the twins. "Where is Millard?" Olive asked confused. " Has he wandered off again?" The other children shrugged their shoulders. No one had seen him. Millard had taken off his clothes to sit unnoticed alone in the corner. He was still concerned about Miss Peregrine. He couldn't get the picture of his ymbryne laying in her bed, moaning in pain out of his head. And even seeing her afterwards in the parlour didn't reassure him, he could see that she was hiding her true feelings. He was just happy that no one could see him now.

"Millard, where are you? I need your help here as well," Olive said. "If you should decide to turn up again, could you please help Horace with the little ones."

Olive went off with Fiona and Hugh while Horace began to tell Claire, Bronwyn and the twins about his best dreams.

Meanwhile Emma and Enoch had other problems. They had followed Miss Peregrine into the bathroom and saw her clutching the toilet bowl. Emma approached her, knelt down and began to rub circles on her ymbryne's back. Enoch didn't know what to do, helplessly he was standing in the doorway and watched the two women.

Miss Peregrine was panting heavily. Every few seconds she retched and threw up. After the third time there wasn't anything left in her stomach, which didn't stop the gag reflex, though. So the next time she was throwing up bile instead.

Every time made Alma's stomach clench more painfully which made her gag again. It was like a vicious cycle and she couldn't break it.

"Shh, Miss Peregrine," Emma tried to calm her down. " It's gonna be alright."

After a few minutes Alma finally stopped heaving and placed her head on the toilet seat, catching her breath.

"Is it better, Miss P.?" Emma asked. Miss Peregrine couldn't even lift her head, she was so exhausted. She didn't want this anymore, all of it, she just wanted it to stop. The whole day had been one struggle after another. She couldn't even remember how her body felt without any pain. Alma just wanted to fall asleep and not wake up for a long time.

Emma took her hand of her ymbryne's back and used it to brush a strand of hair out of Miss Peregrine's face. Even if she wasn't touching her completely she could feel the heat emanating from her skin. She turned towards Enoch. "She's burning up again, her temperature has been climbing rapidly," Emma noted. "Could you please give me a wet washcloth, Enoch?" Enoch went towards the cabinets, pulled one out and soaked it in the sink. Emma took it out of his hand and wiped first Miss Peregrine's forehead and then her mouth.

Alma spat a few times to get the sour taste out of her mouth. "Would you like to rinse your mouth, Miss P.?" Emma asked. Miss Peregrine nodded weakly . Enoch had already filled a jar with water and handed it to Emma. Carefully she held it to her ymbryne's lips and helped her cleaning her mouth.

"I'm sorry, I don't feel so good," Miss Peregrine moaned after spitting out the water.

"We can see that, Miss P.," Emma said comforting. " Now we have to get you back to your bed and see what we can do to make you better. Do you think you're done with vomiting for now?"

"I don't know," Miss Peregrine answered breathlessly, she had started shivering which gradually changed into violent shaking. Emma began to rub her back again. She could feel that Alma's night gown was soaked in sweat again.

"What's happening?" Enoch asked concerned. "This isn't good. "

"Her body is reacting to the infection, her brains tries to raise the body temperature further by shivering. But her climbing temperature is worrying me. Could you please give me the thermometer, I'd like to take her temperature again." Enoch went to the medicine cabinet and took the thermometer to give it to Emma who was now hugging their headmistress to calm her down a bit. After some seconds Emma inspected the scale and frowned. " She's got a temperature of 39.5 degrees."

"That's way too high, isn't it?" Enoch asked alarmed. " It could be worse but it's definitely a high-grade fever. But we can't forget that it's an important way of the body to fight the infection and therefore necessary. I've got no idea, though, when it is time to step in and try to reduce the fever."

"I just want to lie down again," Miss Peregrine whimpered and ended their discussion.

"Yes of course. Do you think you can stand up?," Emma asked while standing up herself. Miss Peregrine nodded and tried to rise. "Careful!" Emma intervened."If you stand up too quickly you will be sick again." Together with Enoch she lifted her and slowly they went towards Miss Peregrine's bedroom. Emma had been right: As soon as she was upright, Alma could feel the acid coming up her throat again but she tried to swallow it back down.

Arriving at her bed she laid down on her side with the help of her children and pulled her knees towards her chest. She seemed to be able to control her gag reflex for the time being but the cramps were as bad as before. Alma wrapped her arms around her stomach and tried to stifle a moan. She didn't want her children to see her like this but apparently she had no other choice. She was helpless, she couldn't even cover herself with the blanket on her own. Emma saw that she was still freezing and longing for the blanket but didn't give it to her.

"I'm sorry Miss Peregrine, but we have to change your clothes first, you're completely soaked in sweat."Emma ignored the protest of her ymbryne and sent Enoch to refill the hot-water bag.

"And tell Olive what happened and that I will be busy here for some time. Maybe you could help her if she needs help," Emma added.

As Enoch had left Emma dressed Miss Peregrine and covered her with the blanket. She sat down on the edge of the bed and stroke Miss Peregrine's cheek.

"How are you feeling now?" She asked. "Is there anything I can do?"

Alma shook her head. "I feel terrible but I guess you can see that. If only these cramps would stop. I thought my headache had been bad but that's nothing compared to this." Emma could see that her ymbryne was barely holding back the tears. It broke her heart so she took Alma's hand and tried to comfort her as best as she could. "I'm going to get the hot-water bag from Enoch and some more tea," Emma said. As she saw her headmistress grimacing she added: "I know that it will be hard to think about drinking something but there's no way around it. You have already lost too much fluids. You will only get worse if you don't keep it down." Then Emma stood up and headed for the door. "Will you be alright on your own for a couple of minutes? She asked. " I will be back as quickly as possible." Then she closed the door and ran downstairs where she found Enoch and Olive in the kitchen.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Enoch was already filling the hot-water bag and Olive was cleaning the things she had obviously used to mix the ingredients to feed the squirrel. _Oh yes, there was the squirrel they had to think about as well._ Emma sighed. _This will be a long and hard night for all of them._ From next-door she could still hear the little ones whining.

"Thanks, Enoch, I will take it back upstairs," Emma said and took the hot water back.

"You're welcome. How is she, is she ok on her own upstairs?" He asked. "I hope so, she wasn't shaking so violently anymore as I left but I will be as quick as possible. Olive, could you please boil some water for me? I want to make some more tea for Miss Peregrine."

"Yes of course," Olive answered. "She won't keep it down, though," Enoch pointed out as Olive hurried to the stove.

"She has to," Emma said. "This is getting out of control," Enoch answered." She's too sick. Maybe we should call a doctor or at least another ymbryne."

"I don't know, I think she wouldn't appreciate it much." "But it's not about what she wants anymore, is it?" Enoch said. "You're right, but let's wait a little bit. I'll try to make her drink and when her temperature increases further I'll try to reduce it. If it doesn't work and she can't keep any fluids down we'll call for help, alright?" Emma suggested. "That sounds like a plan, don't you think, Enoch?" Olive added and handed Emma the kettle. " I guess so," Enoch replied. "But you'll call us if you need help. Until then I will help Olive."

"Yes, I will, thank you," Emma said. "Are the others still so restless, Olive?"

"Yes, unfortunately. But I don't blame them with everything that's going on and the storm outside," Olive sighed. " They still won't go into their own rooms."

Emma considered it for a while. "Then let them sleep down here, if they want. I guess them staying downstairs is better anyway. I will be running around all night and they wouldn't be able to sleep. Besides, you will have to feed the squirrel every two or three hours."

"You're right, Emma, thank you. The little ones will be so relieved," Olive said and went off to tell them.

"You're completely sure that you're alright on your own?" Enoch asked one last time.

"Yes, I don't think it will be necessary to sit with her together and as we agreed, I'll call you if I need help."

Enoch nodded and headed towards the dining room where the younger children were already cheering again.

Emma took the hot-water bag and a teapot full of fennel, chamomile and black tee, the best cure for a stomach flu, and went back upstairs.

Miss Peregrine was leaning against her cushions, breathing heavily. Emma went towards her and gave her the hot-water bag. "Thank you," Alma sighed. The warmth felt good to her stomach but didn't ease the pain completely. Emma was pouring her a cup of tea which released its smell and made Miss Peregrine's stomach turn.

"I'm sorry, Emma, but I can't drink anything," she moaned. Emma didn't stop and held the cup out to her. "We've talked about this Miss P.," she just said and looked at her headmistress.

Miss Peregrine tried to battle her nausea and concentrated on her breathing. "Ok, I'll try but I don't think I will keep it down," she said. "Maybe you should get something like a bucket or so, just in case. I don't think I could make it to the bathroom in time."

"Ok, you're probably right," Emma said and put the cup back on the nightstand. "I'll be back shortly."

Emma ran down the stairs to get the bucket out of the store room. On her way she passed several children who were carrying mattresses, blankets and cushions downstairs. The children seemed happy again. _This was a good idea. This whole sleepover-party atmosphere will distract them._

Emma got one of the buckets and hurried upstairs. Miss Peregrine was still sitting on her bed, leaning back. "Thanks," she said as Emma handed her the bucket, she then sat down and gave Miss Peregrine the cup of tea. Alma took a few deep breaths before she finally tried to drink some tea. Carefully she took one sip after another until she couldn't anymore and gave it back to Emma. "I'm sorry, Emma..." she said panting again. Emma placed the cup back on the bedside table and comforted her ymbryne. "It's ok Miss P., this will do for the beginning, now just lay back and try to relax. Alma laid back and tried to relax as Emma had said. She tried to think of something else but she couldn't distract herself. She felt her stomach clench and had to sit up immediately. Panting she grabbed the bucket and leaned over it. She heard Emma talking to her. "Shh, Miss P., you can do it." But it didn't help and she had to throw up again. She had only drunk a few sips but it was enough to start everything all over again.

Every now and then it stopped and Miss Peregrine could relax for some minutes. Emma took the washcloth to clean her up before she would throw up again. Emma was busy trying to keep Miss Peregrine's hair out of the way, her bun had fallen apart and the strands were now hanging loose. As Alma stopped throwing up once more Emma took her hair out of her face and plaited it into a loose braid. She gave her ymbryne a glass of water to rinse her mouth, which she gladly did. But it was needless because she had to throw up again shortly afterwards.

This went on for some time, Miss Peregrine would throw up and Emma would calm her down, rub her back gently and clean her up before it started again. During a longer break Emma got the thermometer and took Miss Peregrine's temperature once more. It had risen slightly and was now 39.7 degrees. Emma sighed. _This will be a long night._

As Miss Peregrine had calmed down a bit and had laid back for some time, Emma thought it save to go empty the bucket. Her headmistress had closed her eyes and seemed to have fallen asleep for a short time. So Emma took the bucket and left the room. She went to the big bathroom downstairs because it would be easier to clean the bucket there than in Miss Peregrine's small one.

The other children seemed to have finished making their beds, they weren't running around anymore but Emma could still hear some voices. She cleaned the bucket and wanted to go back upstairs as she heard a voice from the kitchen. She went over to see Fiona sitting at the table,

feeding Peanut. Fiona looked up. "Hey Emma, what are you doing here? Is Miss Peregrine alright?" she asked. Emma sat down next to her. "She's getting there, I think. But how's Peanut doing? I can see you're doing a great job. Thank you so much for helping us by taking over this task." "Of course! And I like doing it as well, he's just so cute. " "Where is Hugh?" Emma asked. "Isn't he usually helping you?"

"Yes, he wanted to come as well but he's still talking to Millard, so I started without him".

"Ok, Fiona, I'll have to leave now. Thank you again and sleep well," Emma said before leaving the room. She peeked inside the dining room and could see the others in the parlour. The light was still on. Millard and Hugh were sitting in one corner, talking as Fiona had said. Horace was lying on a mattress next to them, reading, and Enoch and Olive were sitting on the couch together. Enoch had put his arm around Olives shoulder who was reading one last story to the little ones. They were starting to fall asleep on mattresses on the ground in between the two couches. Quietly Emma closed the door and went back upstairs.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Some minutes later, Fiona had finished with Peanut who was now sleeping again. She brought him back into the conservatory and went to her mattress next to the boys. Olive had just finished the story and was lying down next to the little ones and Enoch was laying on the couch next to her. Olive switched off the light, so Horace put his book away and turned around to sleep. Hugh and Millard stopped talking as Fiona joined them, so they were now all lying down. Most of them were asleep very fast. Just Millard, Hugh and Enoch were still awake. Hugh couldn't sleep because Millard had finally told him about what he had seen in Miss Peregrine's room. He was still really worried for her. Hugh had tried to comfort Millard, he had told him that Miss Peregrine will be fine and that Emma will take good care of her. But Millard was still scared and couldn't fall asleep. After 20 minutes, Hugh decided to get up and talk to Enoch about it. He wasn't so sure himself anymore and wanted Enoch to tell him that everything will be fine. He went over to Enoch who was still laying awake. He thought about Emma and Miss Peregrine and if everything was ok upstairs. To be honest, he was still a bit worried about his ymbryne's fever. Then he saw Hugh leaning over his face. " Oh my god, Hugh! You gave me a fright. What's wrong? " he whispered. "It's about Miss Peregrine...I don't know where to start. You have to know that it was Millard's idea, not mine," Hugh tried to explain. "What are you talking about, Hugh?" "About Miss Peregrine...We wanted to know how she is. So while you prepared the dinner, Millard went upstairs and peeked inside her room." Hugh bowed his head in shame. " But we didn't wake her or anything," he tried to justify. "It's just that Millard told me what he saw, that Miss Peregrine was feeling very bad and that she was in pain. And now Millard is scared and won't talk to anyone. I tried to say him that Miss Peregrine will be fine, but I'm not so sure anymore myself." Enoch thought about it for some time. "Ok, Hugh. I don't like that you lied to us all, but I guess that I understand you as well. As for Miss Peregrine: I won't lie to you. She is pretty sick but everyone of us has been seriously sick before and we're all fine again now. So I'm convinced that Miss P. will be too. Emma is taking really good care of her." "Thank you, Enoch," Hugh said relieved. "But I'm afraid that Millard won't believe me." "Ok, I will talk to him as well," Enoch offered and together they went over to Millard.

Upstairs, Emma had placed the bucket next to the bed and was now sitting on the edge of the bed. Miss Peregrine was tossing and turning, she was sweating again and shivering at the same time. Emma could see that her ymbryne was in a lot of pain again. Emma checked her temperature, it hadn't risen further but it hadn't decreased either. From time to time Alma was groaning or clutching her stomach. Emma tried to comfort her by taking her hand or talking to her but she just couldn't take her pain away. Gently she placed her hand on Miss Peregrine's stomach, she could feel the tense muscles. _No wonder that her headmistress was in such pain._ Carefully she began to rub in circles to relieve the tension.

Suddenly Miss Peregrine opened her eyes and turned to her left side. Emma reacted quickly and handed her the bucket just before she threw up again. Since there was nothing left in Miss Peregrine's stomach it was mostly bile and saliva, which didn't make it less unpleasant or painful. As Miss Peregrine seemed to be done, Emma took the bucket away and cleaned her up again. " Oh Miss Peregrine, what am I supposed to do with you?" she sighed and helped her ymbryne to lay down again. Alma just moaned, she didn't even care about rinsing her mouth anymore. As she seemed to have settled down again, Emma went back downstairs to clean the bucket, besides, she needed some fresh air. The air in Miss Peregrine's room has gotten worse over the last hour and she couldn't open the window because Miss Peregrine was still sweating so much.

After cleaning the bucket she decided to sit down in the kitchen for a while. She longed for a cup of tea and maybe she could make a new one for Miss Peregrine, too. With a bit of luck she might be able to bring her ymbryne to drink at least one sip. Passing the staircase she saw that there was light in the kitchen and wondered who might be in there. Turning the corner she could see Olive feeding Peanut again. " Is it already 2 hours ago, that I saw Fiona here?" Emma laughed. Olive looked up smiling as well. "It seems like it, yes. So you're still busy upstairs. How is it going, how is Miss Peregrine?" Olive asked curious. "You can say that again," Emma sighed, put on the kettle and sat down. " Miss P. is not good, she hasn't stopped throwing up yet and her temperature is still pretty high..." "That doesn't sound good," Olive replied. "If you need help just say so. You look pretty tired yourself, I could take over for a while so you could lay down a bit," She offered. "Thank you, that's really nice of you but I'm ok. And I guess it isn't easy for you here as well," Emma said while standing up to fill two cups with hot water.

"It was pretty good so far. The little ones fell asleep 2 hours ago, so I could rest until now. As you know Fiona did the last feed and she's sleeping ever since. Only Millard and Hugh couldn't fall asleep, they were worried because of Miss Peregrine. Enoch is now talking to Millard. But I worry because of the weather, the storm is approaching fast. I'm just waiting for someone to wake up from the thunder and lightning," Olive sighed. " Yes, I was thinking the same thing," Emma agreed, sipping from her tea. "They have always been scared of thunderstorms. You could read to them again but they've had probably enough of that today. I know that Miss Peregrine usually sings to them so they can't hear it anymore... and their stuffed animals from upstairs might help as well," Emma suggested. "Thanks, Emma. That are some great tips," Olive said before she put Peanut back into his bed and stood up to clean up her things. Then both of the girls left the kitchen.

Olive went back into the dining room to put Peanut back. Entering the parlour she heard the last words Millard said to Enoch. "I hope so, but thank you, Enoch. And I'm really sorry we lied to you, it won't happen again," he promised. They both said good night and Enoch returned to Olive. Hugh had fallen asleep during their talk and was now snoring slightly. Olive sat down next to Enoch and leaned into his left shoulder. "Aren't you tired?" she asked. Enoch shook his head. "Are you?, " he asked back. "A little bit," Olive admitted. "But you haven't even slept yet. How come?" Enoch exhaled. "I was thinking about Miss P. and Emma and if we should call for help." "Maybe we should, but then again, I trust Emma to make the right decision and if she says it's not that serious yet, I believe her, " Olive said. Enoch nodded and pulled Olive closer into a hug. "You always believe in others and I love you for that," he said and kissed her on her forehead. Olive smiled. "I love you too. But I would love you even more if you offered to feed Peanut the next time." Enoch laughed quietly. "I would do anything for you, I hope you know that. But I don't think I know how to feed him and I don't want to be the one to explain to the others why their baby squirrel is dead in the morning." "Ok, you're right," Olive laughed too and snuggled into Enoch's shoulder.

Suddenly they heard something from the other side of the room, someone was speaking and then he began to shout. It was Horace. Enoch and Olive stood up. "No, let me go," Enoch said. "Then you can rest until the next feed." Olive smiled grateful. "Thank you!" She mouthed and laid down on her mattress. Enoch went towards Horace who seemed to have a bad dream. He tried to calm him down and as it didn't work he carefully woke him up to talk to him. Horace told him about his bad dream and Enoch tried to tell him that it won't mean anything and that he should try to sleep again. Horace agreed and Enoch went back to the couch. But before one of them could close their eyes they heard a loud bang! Thunder and lightning were so close that they had hit simultaneously. All the children woke up scared. The little ones began to cry. Olive took them in her arm and tried to calm them down. "It's alright, it was just the thunderstorm and it was far away," she said. Fiona left her bed and went over to Olive, she was scared too. "No, it wasn't far away, it was really close," Bronwyn whined. "I'm scared that it will hit the house," Claire cried. "Shh, it won't!" Olive promised. "It has never before and it won't happen now." Enoch joined them, because Horace, Millard and Hugh weren't scared and tried to fall asleep again on their own. Enoch backed Olive up and together they tried to calm them down. They tried reading to them and when that didn't work, Olive remembered Emma's tips and began to sing. This did the trick and the majority fell asleep. Only Claire who still missed her doll was still awake. So Olive promised that she could sleep with her on her mattress. As Claire agreed Olive hugged her and together they fell asleep. Enoch watched his sleeping Olive for a while but soon his eyelids closed as well.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Emma entered Miss Peregrine's room and placed the cup of hot tea on the nightstand. She looked at her ymbryne. Miss Peregrine's eyes were closed and she looked extremely pale. She was moaning and her clothes were already soaked in sweat again. Emma sat down and brushed the hair out of Miss Peregrine's face, which made her feel how warm her ymbryne was. She took the thermometer of the bedside table and checked Miss Peregrine's temperature again. It had increased again and was now 39.9 degrees. Worried, Emma put the thermometer away. Her ymbryne was getting worse and she had to do something. Alma began to toss and turn, she was quite restless which Emma blamed on the dehydration, now clearly visible by her dry skin and mucosa. Gently Emma tried to wake her. "Miss Peregrine! Please look at me." At first nothing happened but as Emma shook her shoulder as well, Alma opened her eyes. "I'm sorry to wake you Miss P.," Emma said. " But you have to drink something. You're quite dehydrated as it is and your temperature is really high." Miss Peregrine groaned but Emma took the cup anyway and placed it in front of her ymbryne's lips. With the other hand she lifted her head and Miss Peregrine took one sip. Emma put the cup back. "That's right, good girl!" she said. "Now you have to try hard to keep it down. It really is important!"

Miss Peregrine closed her eyes again. She felt so weak, she could hardly think, but Emma sounded pretty desperate so she'll better do as Emma said. The tea felt warm which was comforting but her stomach clenched nonetheless. She could feel the nausea return and even had to gag a few times but tried hard to keep it down. After battling it for some time she felt her stomach settling and tried to relax again. Emma had watched her narrowly and was now really relieved that it worked. She knew that her headmistress would need a lot more fluids but didn't dare give her another sip. One was a start and had to be enough for now. So she decided to try to reduce the fever instead. Emma took the cloth out of the water bowl and placed it back on Miss Peregrine's forehead. Miss Peregrine seemed to appreciate it a lot as she sighed relieved and fell asleep once more.

Downstairs, Enoch was awake again, he hadn't slept more than a couple of minutes in a row as he was just too concerned. He blinked a few times to get used to the darkness and looked at the watch. It was 4 o'clock in the morning, time for Peanuts next feed. Carefully, he turned onto his left side and woke Olive who was lying on the mattress next to the couch. "Hey, I'm sorry to wake you but it's time again." Olive sighed but stood up anyway, careful not to wake Clair. She tiptoed around the others, got Peanut and went to the kitchen with him. Enoch laid back again. Thankfully the storm outside wasn't so strong anymore and the thunderstorm seemed to have moved on. Enoch looked around, all of the children were sleeping soundly. He decided to go upstairs to see how Emma was doing.

Going upstairs he could already hear Emma walking around. He met her in the corridor. "Ah! Enoch! You gave me a fright, don't do that again!" Emma said as she almost ran into him. "Sorry, I just wanted to see how you're doing. Seems like you still haven't found any rest," he said.

"Unfortunately not," Emma sighed. "I was just gathering some towels I could use for leg compresses." "So her temperature is still pretty high?" Enoch asked. "Yes and I guess it's still rising, the last time I've checked it was 39.9," Emma explained.

"Oh my god, Emma, that's way too high! You should have called me," Enoch replied.

"And what would you have done, Enoch?" Emma asked. "You couldn't have helped her anyway. I was trying to let the fever fight the infection. But you're right, it is too high now so I'm starting to cool her down." Enoch sighed and followed Emma towards Miss Peregrine's room. "And what about the nausea?" Enoch asked further. "It got pretty bad," Emma admitted. "It's a bit better now I guess but she has lost a lot of fluids. I tried to substitute it but so far she has only managed to keep one sip down." Enoch wanted to say something but Emma was already opening the door and they both entered. Enoch was shocked to see his headmistress like this. It was far worse than when he had last seen her. Emma approached her and took the blanket away. Miss Peregrine groaned in protest but didn't open her eyes. Emma took a few towels and immersed them in the bowl. Then she tried to wrap them around Miss Peregrine's arms and legs. "Enoch, could you please hold that for a minute," she asked and pointed at Miss Peregrine's limbs. Enoch took them as Emma wrapped the dry towels around it. Then she covered Miss Peregrine again with the blanked and replaced the cloth on her forehead. "Now we have to wait if it works," Emma said while sitting down on a chair. Enoch shook his head. "I still can't believe that you let it come to this point. She's seriously sick, Emma."

Emma got angry. " I know that Enoch, what do you think I spend the last hours with? But I don't think there would have been another way. Yes, we could have called another ymbryne. But first it would have taken time for her to get here and second, she couldn't have helped Miss Peregrine either. It's something she has to fight on her own. We can only help her by making her as comfortable as the situation allows. And I really thought that the fever would help her the most," Emma explained. Enoch sat down next to her and nodded. "I'm sorry, you're right. I wouldn't have known better myself. And now I'm affronting you even if it was you who took care of her the whole night. I'm really sorry," Enoch said. "But let's think together now. What can we do to reduce the fever, it's getting seriously high now." "I know," Emma replied. " If the cold compresses won't work I don't know what to do, Enoch. Besides she's seriously dehydrated as well. I gave her something to drink earlier and it was the first time that she didn't throw up immediately but it's not enough. She needs more fluids and fast." Yes you're right," Enoch said. "She's really pale and her breathing is too fast. Have you checked her heart rate?"

Emma shook her head, so Enoch went over to Miss Peregrine and took her wrist to take her pulse. "Her heart rate is elevated too and her blood pressure seems pretty low, we have to do something" Enoch said. "But what?" Emma asked. "There's no doctor here on the island, we would have to wait for the next ferry in the morning to bring her to a hospital on the mainland. But that could be too late." Emma was nearly crying now.

Miss Peregrine didn't seem to notice them, from time to time expressing her discomfort by groaning. She seemed to keep slipping in and out of consciousness constantly.

"I've got an idea what we can do, "Enoch said suddenly. " I remember that the last time one of us was so sick Miss Peregrine used something out of her medicine cabinet to reduce the fever. It was a herb or something. Maybe she's still got it." "Really?" Emma asked. " I don't remember that."

"I know, it was long ago, usually no one gets this sick. I don't even remember who it was. But it's worth a shot, don't you think?" "Yes, of course. Could you go and look for it? I wouldn't know what to look for," Emma said. " Yes, will do. And in the meantime you could try to make her drink. Just give her the tea one spoonful at a time, that should work, and check her temperature again" Enoch added as he was already going into the small bathroom.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Emma did as Enoch had said, she took the thermometer and checked her ymbryne's temperature once more. Unfortunately, it had rise again and was now 40.1 degrees. She sighed and put the thermometer away. Emma was now seriously worried. _What are we going to do, if we can't reduce the fever?_

Because she knew that she couldn't change how things were now she went off to get a spoon to try to help Miss Peregrine in another way. As she came back, Enoch still hadn't returned, so she sat down on the edge of the bed and began to wake her headmistress. After a couple of seconds talking to her and shaking her gently, Alma finally opened her eyes, which were even glassier than before. Emma got scared. Even if her ymbryne was looking at her, she wasn't, not really. She seemed dazed and not really awake. Emma thought it was most likely that Miss Peregrine was in some sort of delirium caused by the fever. She tried to talk to her nonetheless. " Miss P.! It's me, Emma. I need you to drink a little bit of tea, please." Carefully she took one of the spoon filled with tea and gave it to her ymbryne. For once, Emma seemed to be lucky. She didn't think that her headmistress would understand her but she swallowed the little bit of tea without hesitation. It must be her subconscious mind and her body which longed for fluids. Emma waited 2 minutes, watching Miss Peregrine narrowly. As she didn't show any signs of nausea again, Emma tried the next spoon. By the time Enoch returned, she had already managed to feed 5 spoonfuls of tea.

"I've found it," Enoch exclaimed. "Really?" Emma turned around to look at him. " What was it?"

"It's a barberry tincture. It even says antibacterial, tonic, antifebrile and calming on the label," Enoch answered. He went to Emma and handed her the glass vial. She took it and surveyed it. " That's wonderful, thank you, Enoch!" she said. "But how much shall we give her?"

"I found a chart in the inside of the cabinet. It said we should give her two drops immediately and then 1 drop every hour until the fever decreases," Enoch explained. "Ok!" Emma added two drops to the tea on the spoon and gave it to Miss Peregrine. "Will she keep it down?," Enoch asked unsure. "Yes, I guess. I already gave her 5 spoonfuls and she hasn't thrown up yet," Emma explained. "That's a good sign, isn't it?" Enoch asked. " At least it's a step in the right direction. Her fever is still really high but we have only just started the counter-measures. If it goes down and nothing else happens tonight, I think she will be on the way to recovery," Emma said. "That would be great," Enoch replied and slumped into one of the chairs. He was really tired but he didn't want to imagine how Emma felt.

"You should go down again and rest. I will be fine here," Emma offered. "No way! I will stay and if someone should lay down it's you. You have bee up the whole night," Enoch said.

"I'm fine, Enoch, really!" Emma argued. "Besides, Olive might need some help and you can still sleep a little bit before the others wake up. And we don't need two of us being knackered tomorrow."

"I don't know," Enoch said. "I'd rather stay here as well. I want to see how Miss P. is."

"She will be asleep the whole time. I will call you if something happens, I promise! " Emma tried to convince him. Enoch yawned. "Maybe you're right. It would be too much for Olive on her own. But you really have to call if something happens." "I will," Emma confirmed while she fed Miss Peregrine another spoonful of tea. "Look at her, she has already settled down a bit." Enoch saw that Emma was right. Miss Peregrine was lying relaxed in her bed and had stopped tossing and turning. She seemed to be in less pain and she had a peaceful expression. Relieved he stood up and went to the door. "Thank you, Emma, for everything. And I'm really sorry that I snapped at you. You did the right thing," Enoch said. "Call me if you need anything and don't forget to check her temperature regularly," he added. "Yes, Enoch, I won't," Emma replied.

As Enoch had left Emma kept on feeding Miss Peregrine more tea. Since it went pretty good, Emma shortened the intervals. Shortly before dawn Miss Peregrine's fever seemed to have broken. She had nearly finished two cups of tea so Emma stopped to took her temperature again. Emma didn't think that one day she would be so happy to see it stop at 39.8 degrees. It was still high, she knew that but she was just so relieved that the fever had gone down. Now Miss Peregrine was really getting better. With some new energy Emma changed all the cold compresses once more before she let Miss Peregrine sleep it off.

Before she left, Emma placed the clean bucket next to Miss Peregrine's bed, just in case and filled another cup of tea that she placed on the nightstand. Emma wasn't sure if leaving her alone was such a good idea, but she was better now and just needed some sleep which Emma did too.

Downstairs she went into the parlour. Everyone was asleep, she could only see Peanut rolling over in his box. Emma took a look at the watch. It's half past 6, someone must have fed him just a few minutes ago. Carefully she went over to the second couch. Enoch slept on the first one, his arm hanging over the edge, his hand intertwined with Olives, who laid on a mattress next to him with Claire in her arms. The other little ones were all laying around Olive, snuggled together. The boys and Fiona laid on the other side of the room sleeping peacefully, even Horace didn't seem to have any bad dreams. Emma laid down on the couch and as soon as she had covered herself with the blankets, her eyelids closed and she fell into a long needed sleep.


	16. Chapter 16

**Hi everyone who is still reading my story. I am so happy that you still like it and thank you so much for your reviews, I really love reading them! As you might already know, this story is slowly coming to its end. I'm not sure what I will do afterwards, if I will start a new story or not. But if someone has got a really good idea for another story, one that I really like, I might want to write about it. So let me know and maybe I get inspired enough to write something else.**

Chapter 16

The sun was shining brightly, it was another beautiful day. But compared to all the other days it was still quiet in Miss Peregrine's home for peculiar children. In the parlour, everyone was still asleep.

Emma was the first to awake. She opened her eyelids and squinted because of a sunray shining right into her face. Slowly she lifted her head. Even if the sun was shining the others were still asleep. No wonder after such night. She took a look at the clock, it was already half past 9. Usually they will have had breakfast by this time. But then, she doesn't usually stay up all night, does she? Carefully she lifted herself up. It must be time for Peanuts next feed, she thought. Actually Emma was still feeling very tired and didn't want to get up yet but Olive and Claire were sleeping so peacefully together that she didn't want to wake them and stood up to feed Peanut. Emma usually loved the mornings in the house, when most of the children were still asleep and she could sit quietly in the parlour. After feeding and massaging Peanut, Emma decided to lay down again. Fortunately the others were still asleep and she could still get some rest. 3 hours sleep were definitely not enough for her. For a short moment she considered going upstairs to check on Miss Peregrine but Emma was just so tired and Miss P. would be asleep anyway, so she closed her eyes again.

At 11 o'clock the other children were slowly waking up. Olive woke up shortly afterwards and took them all out of the parlour. She knew that Enoch and especially Emma had had a rough night and still needed the sleep. She told the younger ones to go upstairs and get ready. "But don't make any noises! I don't want you to wake up Miss P.!" she added before going into the kitchen to prepare the breakfast. Olive was still tired as well, sleeping only 2 hours straight isn't that restful either.

She started making porridge and pancakes. As she was just frying some eggs and beacon Enoch entered the small kitchen. "Good morning, Olive," he yawned. " How is it possible for you to be already awake and standing in the kitchen?"

"Believe me, Enoch, I'm as tired as you are. But the others are awake and someone has to take care of them and prepare the breakfast. And I thought that you and Emma might need the sleep more than I do," Olive explained. "Yes maybe. I'm going upstairs to get ready and then I will come and help you down here," Enoch said and left the kitchen. The other children were coming towards him.

"Good morning, Enoch!" they said and ran into the dining room. _At least someone got enough sleep..._

Quickly, Olive ran after them to close the door to the parlour before they could wake up Emma. Together they set the table and after Enoch had prepared some fruit and hot chocolate, they started eating.

Emma awoke to the smell of fresh pancakes. She looked around and was alone in the parlour. The clock said that it was already half past 11. How did she not notice the others when they left the parlour? She must have been fast asleep. Slowly she stood up and yawned. She still felt tired but the last 2 hours of sleep had given her at least some energy for the day. Emma went into the bathroom to get ready before she entered the dining room. All the children greeted her. "Good morning, "Emma answered. " You look halfway rested. Did you have a good night?" Some of the children nodded. "At first I couldn't sleep because of the storm and because I missed my doll. But then Olive let me sleep with her," Claire reported. Bronwyn nodded. "Yes, the thunder was really near and loud. " "I got really scared as the lightning hit," Fiona added. The twins agreed by making funny noises. Emma sat down on her chair after putting on her belt. "How is Miss Peregrine?," Millard inquired. Emma looked at him and could still see the worry in his eyes. "She's a lot better, Millard. The last time I saw her she was sleeping peacefully which is a really good sign. She had been a lot worse before," Emma explained while she began eating some toast with eggs. "She's surely on her way to recovery now, she may not yet be so fit today but she will get there, I'm sure. " Millard sighed relieved. Finally he didn't have to worry anymore. Cheerful they finished their breakfast before starting to clean up. Fiona took Bronwyn and Claire with her to feed Peanut. Emma went into the kitchen where Olive and Enoch were already cleaning the worktop. "I might go upstairs and check on Miss P.," she said. "That's a good idea," Olive replied. "Call, if you need anything," Enoch added before he and Olive went into the dining room to help the little ones clearing the table.

As Emma arrived in front of Miss Peregrine's room, she quietly opened the door and looked inside. Her headmistress was still asleep. Quietly, Emma entered. Miss Peregrine looked a lot better than the last time Emma had seen her. And by the looks of it she hadn't thrown up again. The bucket was where she had left it, clean, and it seemed that Miss Peregrine had even drunk some more of the tea on her nightstand. Carefully, Emma approached. She could hear Miss Peregrine breathing, it wasn't so quick anymore and she seemed quite relaxed. Emma covered her completely with the blanket and went to open the window, this room really needed some fresh air. Emma looked out of the window, it was another sunny day and for September, it was still really warm. She saw a few birds flying around and singing in the slight breeze. Emma turned back to Miss Peregrine and took a closer look. Her ymbryne looked so much more relaxed than last night, her expression wasn't so pained anymore and she wasn't lying in a cramped position. The only thing that remembered of last night's struggles was her ruffled hair. Emma said down on the bed again and gently put her hand on Miss Peregrine's forehead. She was so relieved that she had to smile. Her headmistress still felt a little bit warm but nothing compared to before. Alma didn't wake up, she didn't even move at the touch. _She must be so exhausted._ For a short moment Emma thought about waking her up to make her drink again but she decided against it. Miss Peregrine's body had been in dire need of sleep the whole night. Emma filled the cup with some more tea, in case Miss Peregrine felt thirsty when she would wake up. Then she closed the window again and left.

Downstairs, the children had finished cleaning the table and the kitchen and were now cleaning the parlour from all the mattresses, blankets and cushions. Emma met Enoch and Olive in the corridor.

"And, how is she?" they asked simultaneously. " She's a lot better!" Emma reported. "I think she had drunk something earlier, she hadn't thrown up again and her temperature has gone down a lot." Enoch and Olive sighed in relieve. " That is really good to hear," Enoch said. "Yes, it is," Olive agreed. " Now she has to sleep it off, I guess," Emma added. "Her body needs all the rest he can get." "You're right," Enoch said. "We can manage another day on our own and in the evening she might be rested enough for the reset." The girls nodded.

"So what are we going to do now?" Olive asked. " I thought we could all go outside, I bet there's a lot to do after the thunderstorm last night," Enoch suggested. "Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that, " Emma replied. " Yes, that's a good idea, " Olive said. "I'm just going to get Peanut. Fiona has just fed him, then we can carry him around in the belt bag."

Fiona were running past them. " Oh, yes, can I carry him, please!" "Sorry, Fiona but I don't think it's such a good idea. You will have a lot to do outside, maybe you even have to climb or run around. That would be too dangerous or turbulent for him," Emma explained. Fiona nodded sadly. " Okay," she said and went into the parlour to the others. "Ok, then let's get to work," Enoch said. Emma nodded, yawning. "You don't have to come with us," Olive offered. "You didn't sleep much, maybe you'd like to lay down again." Emma shook her head. "No, I'm alright. I guess we're all tired but some fresh air will be good." Together they went into the parlour to get the other children and then they all went outside, including Peanut, carried by Olive.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

In the garden, there was a lot to do. The storm had damaged many trees or bushes, everywhere were lying branches or leaves. Most of the flowers were lying flat on the ground and their soccer goal had been knocked over. All the children began with their work. Emma got some rakes and gave them to the younger ones to clean the lawn of dirt and leaves. The boys were gathering all the fallen branches from everywhere. They were supposed to pile them on the lawn in front of the conservatory. Fiona went to all the plants which got damaged to make them grow again, especially the flowers which got blown down. Emma and Olive were going around looking for animals who might have fallen out of trees or bushes. They found two bird-nests but fortunately no dead or hurt birds. They must have been already empty or the birds were able to flee. Then they found the drey under the big tree in the corner of their lot. Carefully Emma lifted it and looked inside. She sighed relieved. "They are still alive and by the looks of it unscathed," she said to Olive. "What a miracle," Olive answered. "Are we going to put it back?," she asked. Emma nodded. "Can you get the rope? Then you can hold me while I put it back," Emma suggested. Olive agreed and went to get the rope. As she returned, she tied it around Emma who removed her shoes. Carefully Olive let her float into the sky until she had reached the place where the drey used to be. Gently, Emma put it back on a forked branch and Olive pulled her back down. After Emma had put on her shoes again, they kept on searching but didn't find anything else. Enoch had been trying to get the big branches out of the lake but wasn't able to do so on his own, so he asked the other boys for help. Horace and Millard came to help him while Hugh finished clearing the lawn of the rest of the little branches. Together they managed to pull out nearly all the branches except for the ones in the middle of the lake that they couldn't reach. " How are we supposed to clean the rest?" Millard asked. "We can't go in there," Horace added. Enoch thought about it. "We could get the little boat out of the shed, then we can paddle towards the middle and pull out the branches," he suggested. And that's what they did. While cleaning the rest, Enoch noticed the collapsed wooden footbridge and decided to clean it up as well. Carefully he went to the edge of the lake and pulled out the boards. Suddenly he saw something. In the reeds something pink was catching his eye. Very cautiously he leaned forward to reach it, but it was too far away. Enoch decided to remove his right shoe and sock and to roll up his right trouser leg. Then he stepped into the lake with his right foot. It seemed to be enough and with a bit of stretching, he was able to grab the pink piece of fabric. As he was on the grass again he surveyed it closer and recognized Claire's doll. " _How on earth did she end up in the lake?_ He put on his sock and shoe again, before he called for Emma and Olive. As they had just finished their task, they came over to him. "What's up, Enoch?" Emma asked curious. "Look, what I've found," Enoch said while holding up the doll. "That's Claire's," Olive pointed out. "Where did you find it," Emma asked. "It was lying in the lake in between the reeds near the footbridge," Enoch explained. "But how did it get there?" Olive wondered. "Maybe it happened as Claire stumbled and fall to the ground, the doll could have fallen out of her hand and rolled down the bank into the lake, " Emma suggested. "That sounds logical and now we also know what the twins were doing there, they had seen it and wanted to get the doll," Enoch added. " Oh yes, of course!" Olive exclaimed. " Claire will be so happy that we've found her." The others nodded. They looked around, the garden looked nearly as tidy as before the storm, so they called the other children to gather next to the pile of branches. "You did very good, children," Emma started. "The garden looks really beautiful again, thank you. And now we have a little surprise for you, Claire." Claire was astonished. She looked to the others and then slowly went towards Emma. "Don't be afraid, " Olive laughed. Emma pulled out the doll from behind her back. "Look, what Enoch has found," she said. "My doll!" Claire shouted and ran to get the doll. She wanted to embrace her in a hug but stopped. "She's wet and dirty, what happened to her?" she asked. "She must have fallen into the lake as you fell yesterday," Enoch explained. But it didn't calm Claire down. "We can clean her up again," Emma stepped in. " And then she will be as beautiful as before, I promise." Claire began to smile. "Ok, then let's go inside. I bet you're all hungry after such work," Emma said and began to walk towards the house.

Inside, Emma and Claire went into the bathroom to clean the doll. After Olive had put Peanut back in his box, she and Enoch started preparing sandwiches for lunch. Fiona and Bronwyn had been sent outside again to get some ingredients from the garden, like salad, tomatoes or cucumber. The others started setting the table. As the sandwiches were ready and the doll cleaned and drying in front of the fireplace, they all sat down in the dining room. Emma went into the kitchen to Enoch and Olive. They were just finishing the plates with the sandwiches. "I might go upstairs again to see if Miss Peregrine is awake," Emma suggested. "Yes you should do that," Enoch agreed.

" She still needs to drink a lot. Olive could you please heat some water for the tea?" Emma asked. Olive nodded and went over to the stove. "She might need to start eating as well," Enoch added. "Her body will need the strength to recover."

"You're right, Enoch. But I don't know if it's still too early. I don't want her to throw up again," Emma pointed out. "Maybe we should start very carefully," Olive suggested. "Nothing too substantial or greasy."

Emma thought about it. "I think we might still have some rusk left, that could work, don't you think?" "Yes, Emma! That's a great idea," Olive answered. She had finished with the water and was now filling a mug with it. Enoch went to get the rusk out of one of the upper cabinets. Emma took the tea and a plate with some pieces of rusk and left the kitchen. Enoch and Olive carried the sandwiches into the dining room.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

As Emma entered Miss Peregrine's room she saw her headmistress opening her eyes. Slowly Alma lifted herself up into a sitting position. Emma went towards the bed and placed the mug and the plate on the nightstand.

"How are you feeling, Miss P.?" she asked while sitting down on the edge of the bed again. " I guess better would be the right word," Alma answered. "But I'm still so tired. What time is it?"

"It's 2 o'clock," Emma replied. "Oh, it's already this late. I've been awake a few times and I wanted to stand up but my eyes kept on closing again on their own," Miss Peregrine explained glumly.

"That's good," Emma said." You shouldn't be up again, you need to rest. How's your stomach doing?"

" I'm not sure. The pain isn't so strong anymore and I just feel a bit queasy. But my head still hurts a lot," Miss Peregrine complained.

"That's surely because of your dehydration," Emma explained. " Speaking of: You still need to drink a lot to refill your fluids. I brought you some tea." Emma handed Alma the mug. She took some sips, it was still a bit hot. "I also brought you something to eat. I'm not sure if it's too early but you need the strength, so we thought you could start with some rusk," Emma suggested. Miss Peregrine nodded as she put the mug back on the nightstand. "You're probably right, even if I don't feel like eating," she said and took the plate, Emma held out for her. While Alma tried to eat something, Emma began to get rid of the compresses that had already began to fall apart. As Emma had finished cleaning up all the remains of last night, Miss Peregrine had managed to eat one and a half piece of rusk. Emma took the plate out of her ymbryne's hands and placed it on the nightstand.

"I'd like to take your temperature again," she said. Miss Peregrine nodded. She didn't like her children taking care of her, especially now as she was feeling a bit better. But she didn't feel like arguing, particularly not with Emma who had been so good to her the whole night. She didn't remember everything, she must have been pretty out of it but she knew that she was in a bad state and that Emma was with her the whole time. Emma must have been up the whole night and that just because of her. Alma felt terrible about it. But she also knew that she didn't and still doesn't have another choice. She was seriously sick and she's still too weak to do everything the way she wants to.

Emma took the thermometer and gave it to her ymbryne who placed it into her mouth. Miss Peregrine closed her eyes, she wanted the uncomfortable situation to go over as soon as possible. After half a minute Emma took the thermometer back and looked at it. "And?" Miss Peregrine asked. "38.2 degrees. That's good I guess. It's just a moderate fever and so much lower than last night," Emma explained. Miss Peregrine closed her eyes, she hadn't expected her temperature to be still so high, she was feeling so much better.

"So it was pretty bad last night?" she guessed. Emma nodded. Alma sighed. "I'm sorry, Emma, I never meant for you to care for me the whole night." Emma cut her off. "No, Miss P. Don't be sorry, it wasn't your fault that you were sick. Besides, you would have done the same for us. It's just natural that we care for you as well." Emma didn't want to argue with her ymbryne longer and ended the conversation by standing up. "Can I put the bucket away or do you think you might need it again?" she asked. Miss Peregrine shook her head. "I don't think so," she answered. So Emma grabbed the bucket to bring it away. As she wanted to leave Miss Peregrine asked: "Are you going to come back afterwards?" "If you want me to," Emma answered. Miss Peregrine bit her lower lip and nodded. "I would like to go to the bathroom and I don't think I can manage on my own," she sighed. Alma didn't like admitting her weaknesses but like before, she didn't have another choice. She wouldn't want to collapse on her way, then she would need a lot more help from her children again.

"Of course," Emma said. "I take the bucket with me when I go back down later." She placed the bucket next to the door to the corridor, then she went towards her headmistress and helped her up. As Miss Peregrine stood they waited a few seconds because she felt a bit light-headed from the dehydration and laying down for so long. "Better?" Emma asked. Alma nodded and carefully they walked towards the small bathroom. Arriving at the sink Miss Peregrine splashed some cold water into her face and looked into the mirror. What she saw was quite disturbing. She had dark rings under her eyes and was still really pale. Her eyes mirrored how weak and febrile she still was and her hair, even though still in the plait Emma had made, looked disheveled. Her thoughts were interrupted by Emma rubbing circles on her back. Alma dried her face before turning around. Together they walked back towards the bed. Grateful Alma laid back. She was already tired again from just walking a few meters. She realized that her body might need a lot of rest before she would be back to normal. Miss Peregrine sighed before she spoke up again. "Would it be ok, if you took care of the other children for another day? I'm still feeling too tired. " Emma looked offended. "Miss P.! What do you think of us? Of course! You can have as much time as you need. Besides, I wouldn't let you stand up yet anyway. As long as you're sick, you're not doing anything except resting!" she said. Miss Peregrine gave her a thankful smile before she closed her eyes again. Her head was throbbing and her eyelids felt too heavy to keep them open any longer.

"But don't forget to drink," Emma reminded her. Alma nodded as she opened her eyes once more. She wanted nothing more than to sleep but Emma was right. In order to get better she had to drink more. So she took the mug and drank some tea while Emma went to leave with the bucket. As Emma closed the door behind her, Miss Peregrine had already closed her eyes again.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

As Emma returned to the others they had nearly finished their lunch. Luckily Olive had saved some of Emma's favorite sandwiches on an extra plate, so Emma sat down at the dining table and started eating as well. Of course all of the younger ones wanted to know how Miss P. was, therefore Emma had to explain everything to them in between bites. " Miss Peregrine is feeling a lot better but she said herself that she is still feeling very tired and not fit enough for her daily duties."

"How is her temperature?" Enoch asked. "It has gone down further, it's still 38.2 degrees but I guess after last night that's really good," Emma reported. Enoch nodded. "Thankfully we found the remedy in her cabinet. I don't want to imagine what could have happened otherwise."

"And has she been drinking enough and what did she say to the food?" Olive inquired. "Yes, she has been drinking on her own and she ate some of the rusk without complaining. I could even take the bucket away, she didn't think she would need it anymore, so that's a really good sign." "That's right!" Enoch said and stood up to clear the table since everyone had finished. Emma took a look around. Most of the children looked quite tired after the meal. They had slept longer than her, that's for sure but not enough and cleaning the garden in the morning wasn't really easy work either. " I think we should stay inside for the afternoon and do whatever we want to," she suggested. "We're all tired and have done enough for today." "That sounds perfect," Olive answered. The younger ones got really excited at the idea which gave them new energy. They were all talking at the same time, discussing their ideas. As Olive and Emma helped Enoch with the dishes, they all went into the parlour. Claire and Bronwyn had gotten their toys and played with the twins, Horace was playing the piano while Millard read and Fiona and Hugh got Peanut to feed him again. As the older ones entered, Claire ran towards Emma. "Can we get my doll, please?" she begged. Emma placed her hand on Claire's head. " We could go and see if she's already dry enough," she answered and took Claire's hand. Together they went over to the fireplace and touched the doll. Because she was mostly dry, Emma handed it to Claire. "Thank you," Claire said and ran back to the others. The twins were playing with some knights who had to rescue Bronwyn's and Claire's dolls. Emma sat down next to Enoch and Olive on the red couch. Olive had laid her head on Enoch's shoulder and her eyes were closed. She enjoyed sitting down for a few minutes listening to Horace's piano playing and feeling Enoch's thumb stroking her palm. Then Emma saw Hugh and Fiona coming back with Peanut. "Hey Emma, do you want to hold him?" Fiona asked while she and Hugh said down on the floor next to the couch. "I would love to," Emma answered as she took Peanut out of Fiona's hand. She thought he might have even grown since she last saw him but he definitely was more active, wriggling around on her hand. "He is so cute! How does it go with the feeding, is he eating enough and everything?" Emma asked. Fiona nodded excited. "Yes, it's going really good," Hugh agreed.

For a long time they just sat there and relaxed. Peanut had fallen asleep on Emma's lap and Emma had closed her eyes as well for some time. Fiona and Hugh had just gone to join Millard and Horace who had started playing cards, as Enoch woke up Emma by tugging at her sleeve. "It's already half past 3. What about the hollow?" he asked silently. " I thought you'd do that again today?" Emma asked confused. " Yes, of course!" Enoch answered. "But do you think Miss Peregrine will agree as well?" Enoch arched an eyebrow. "Ahh," Emma finally understood. "No, probably not, she would want to do it herself again." "Yes," Enoch answered. "And that's exactly what I want to prevent." "You mean we should talk to her before she comes down again?" Emma asked once more. "Exactly" Enoch sighed, relieved that Emma had finally understood what he wanted. "But I think it should be you rather than us. At the moment Miss Peregrine will most likely agree to everything you suggest. I guess she still feels guilty for last night, which she doesn't have to of course. But it's only for her best." Emma thought about it for a couple of seconds. "Maybe you're right," she answered eventually. "I will go and talk to her. You're sure you want to do it again?" Enoch nodded. "This time I'll know exactly what to do." He winked at Emma who took the sleeping Peanut in her hand and placed him in his box, standing on the little table next to the couch. Then she stood up and left the parlour to go upstairs.

As she arrived in front of Miss Peregrine's room she knocked for the first time in two days. It wasn't necessary yesterday but today, as Miss Peregrine was feeling better it was appropriate. She heard Miss Peregrine answering " Come in!" and entered. Her headmistress was already sitting on the edge of her bed. " I just wanted to come down," she explained. "We feared as much." Emma answered and shook her head. "That's why I am here. We don't think you should go and shoot the Hollow today. Enoch said he would do it again and he did good yesterday, didn't he?" Miss Peregrine wasn't convinced yet. "Yes, but I'm not sure, I'd rather do it myself, it's just saver," she argued. "But Miss P., it's not necessary, you should take all the rest you can get and we need you for the reset tonight. Please, let him do it again. He promised to take good care and if something goes wrong he will come and get you immediately," Emma begged. Miss Peregrine thought for a moment. " Ok, maybe you're right. He did good yesterday and it only gets easier the more times you do it." Emma smiled. "Exactly! And if you really want you could come downstairs with us into the parlour, if something happens, you won't be far away," Emma suggested.

"That's a good idea," Miss Peregrine said and stood up slowly. Emma went to steady her, she still looked quite weak. "Are you ok?" Emma asked. Miss Peregrine nodded. "The dizziness is nearly gone." Have you been drinking enough, Miss P.?" Emma inquired. "I've been drinking every time I was awake, but I'm not sure if it was enough," she shrugged. "It's a good start and I can make you another cup of tea downstairs. Maybe you even want to eat some more, how's the nausea?" "It's ok," Miss Peregrine explained. "Not gone yet but I managed to eat what you gave me earlier so that's good." "It is," Emma agreed and smiled. Miss Peregrine put on her dressing gown, grabbed her pocketwatch and together they went downstairs. In the parlour the kids were quite excited to see her ymbryne again. They greeted her and some of them ran towards her. Little Claire and the twins hugged her headmistress tightly, they had missed her so much. " Careful, careful!" Emma reminded. "Miss Peregrine is still a bit sick." The little ones were upset and looked up into her ymbryne's face. Miss Peregrine patted their little heads and smiled. "I'm fine. What Emma meant was that I'm better but not yet as fit as always." Alma went over to Enoch who looked at her expectantly. "Are you sure you can do it?" was the only thing she asked. Enoch nodded confident. "Ok, then I won't disapprove. You did really good yesterday and I'm sure you will again. But you still have to promise to come and get me if something goes wrong!" Alma said while handing Enoch her pocket watch. Enoch promised and went outside to get the crossbow.

"Ok, then lie down and I will bring you some tea," Emma said and steered Miss Peregrine towards the black couch, since Olive still sat on the other one. She wasn't asleep anymore but not really awake either. Emma covered Miss Peregrine with a blanket and went towards the kitchen. Alma leaned her head against the armrest. Walking downstairs had taken more energy than she would have thought. She closed her eyes for a while until Emma returned with a mug and some more rusk. " Maybe you could eat some more," she suggested. "It might be good for you." Emma handed her both and Miss Peregrine ate and drank a little bit.

In the meantime Enoch had reached the cliff. He checked the time, aimed and pulled the trigger. This time he could hear the arrow piercing the hollows head immediately, he heard it roar and it tumbled to the ground. Again, he waited some time, just to be sure, but nothing happened. Pleased with himself he went back to the house.

Emma had watched Enoch out of the kitchen window and was now meeting him in the corridor. They had their second task to finish as well: The baby squirrel. On her way to the front door, she let Miss Peregrine know that everything went fine. Relieved Alma relaxed on the couch and watched the little ones play with their toys. Olive had closed her eyes again and the other children were still playing board games. All of them were enjoying their relaxed afternoon.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

As Emma and Enoch returned, the majority of the people in the parlour were still doing nothing. Fiona had stopped playing with the others and was now getting Peanut. "Miss P., it's time for his next feed," she exclaimed. "Do you want to see how I feed him?" Miss Peregrine nodded. Just laying there had made her tired again and her eyelids had been beginning to close but she was really interested in everything regarding the squirrel and what her children had learned during her absence. As Enoch and Emma sat down next to Olive who was now slowly awaking, Fiona came back with all the things she needed. She had placed the squirrel on Miss Peregrine's lap and let him drink out of the syringe. "Sometimes he is so hungry that I don't have to do anything because he sucks in the plunger on his own," Fiona explained to Miss Peregrine. Alma smiled, it made her really happy to see Fiona enjoying her responsibility for another being. "He's really cute and you're handling it brilliantly," she said. After Fiona had massaged him she left him on Miss Peregrine's chest before she went to clean her supplies.

Emma, Enoch and Olive were talking about their plans for dinner and left eventually for the kitchen to prepare everything. As Fiona returned, Peanut and Miss P. had fallen asleep. She called Hugh and showed him the lovely sight until Emma came to get them to help with the ingredients. Emma smiled as she saw her headmistress sleeping with the baby squirrel on her chest. "I guess we can let them stay like that for a while," she said to Fiona. "Boys, can you keep an eye out for these two," Emma said to Horace and Millard. "I don't want Peanut falling down or waking up Miss P. And could you look out for the younger ones as well?" Emma asked while pointing at the twins, Claire and Bronwyn, still playing on the ground near the fireplace. The boys nodded and Emma left with Fiona and Hugh who were supposed to grow and bring in some ingredients.

After Fiona and Hugh had brought in two pumpkins, potatoes, green beans and onions they cleaned everything and left it for the older ones to cook. They went back into the parlour where nothing had changed at all. Except for Peanut who had started to squirm again. Quickly Fiona went and grabbed him before he could wake up Miss Peregrine. "Millard, you were supposed to look out for Peanut," Fiona accused him. "Oops, sorry! I had to concentrate to win against Horace," Millard apologized. "Say that to Emma if she finds out that it nearly woke up Miss Peregrine," Hugh added, laughing silently. Fiona hit him with her elbow and glared at him. "It's not funny, is it?" she asked sarcastically.

A while later Olive entered. "Okay, children, I want you all, no exceptions, clearing the parlour of your toys or games. Then you go and wash your hands before you can help setting the table. Dinner will be ready shortly." The children did as they were told and soon returned to set the table. Emma, Enoch and Olive served the vegetables, potatoes and some meat. Then Emma went over to wake up Miss Peregrine. Carefully she shook her shoulder until her ymbryne opened her eyes. "I'm sorry Miss Peregrine, but dinner is ready. I thought you might come and sit with us, I made some chicken soup for you," she said. Miss Peregrine smiled. "Thank you, Emma, I would love to," she replied while getting up. Alma just wanted to stand up as Emma stepped in. "Not too quick, Miss P. I'd like to check your temperature again first," Emma said while handing Miss Peregrine the thermometer she had gotten from upstairs. Miss Peregrine sighed. "Again?" she asked a little bit annoyed. "Yes, again! You know that it's important, you would do the same thing if one of us was sick," Emma stated. "Probably," Alma had to admit. But she thought that there was a difference between her caring for her children and the other way round, it was her duty to do everything for them. And she could take care of herself. But again, she didn't want to argue, so she decided to endure the situation once more. Emma took the thermometer and checked it, she frowned. Miss Peregrine had known it, her temperature must have risen again. It had already been elevated earlier as she had felt quite good but during the late afternoon she had been feeling a little bit worse again. It wasn't nearly as bad as yesterday and she knew that she couldn't expect to be up and about again in such a short time. But she wanted to prove to Emma that she was fine, so that she would stop fussing. But apparently it didn't work and her body had other plans. "What does it say?" Miss Peregrine asked.

"I'm afraid your temperature has increased again, it's 38.6 degrees again" Emma said, thinking about what she should do now. "But I guess it's just because it's always higher in the evening hours."

" Yes, you're right and it's still better than yesterday, isn't it?" Miss Peregrine pointed out. " Yes, of course!" Emma said. "And I guess we couldn't have expected it to be gone in only one day but it would have been nice anyway. How are you feeling?" Emma asked instead. " I'm fine, Emma," Miss Peregrine said, standing up. Emma stared at her unbelievingly. "Really, Emma," Miss Peregrine repeated. "Yes, I feel a little bit worse than earlier, but as you said, it's just the fever. The headache is better, my stomach doesn't hurt anymore and the nausea has faded. All in all that's really good, compared to last night, wouldn't you say?" she asked. Emma had to nod. "You're right."

" Ok, then let's eat now," Miss Peregrine said before going over to the dining room. Emma went into the kitchen to get the soup before she entered the dining room as well.

The children were really happy to have their ymbryne back with them again, they laughed, talked endlessly and told their headmistress everything they had done during the last two days. Miss Peregrine enjoyed the time with them as well, after being on her own for so long it really lifted her spirits, as did the tasty soup, Emma had prepared. Alma even felt a little bit hungry as she started eating. Soon she had finished her first plate and thought about taking some more. The other food looked really good as well and she longed for some real food but didn't dare push her luck. She had to be grateful that her stomach allowed her to eat at least something. Emma refilled her plate and her cup of tea. "Thank you," Miss Peregrine said."The soup is really good." Emma smiled and sat down again.

After finishing their meal everyone felt really tired. No one had slept well last night and it had been a long day again. The older ones cleaned everything up after Enoch had told their headmistress in no uncertain terms that she should lie down again instead of helping them. The other children sat in the parlour with her. All of their eyelids felt really heavy and some of them closed their eyes from time to time. So did Miss Peregrine, she was feeling really tired as well but knew she couldn't go to bed until the reset. As the older ones returned, they all opened their eyes again.

"I think it's time for bed," Emma said. "No," they all protested. "We want to see the reset, as always," Millard said, barely able to stifle a yawn.

"It's still 2 hours until the reset and you're already falling asleep," Olive laughed. "But we want to see it again," Claire whined. Fiona, Bronwyn and the twins nodded eagerly.

Emma couldn't blame them. It had been two difficult days for all of them and not being able to see the reset from outside must have been quite disturbing for the younger ones compared to their usual daily routine. All they wanted was for everything to be back to normal again and the reset played a major part. "Ok," Emma finally said. "But you're going upstairs now to get ready for bed. Then we can stay together in the parlour and wait for the reset. But afterwards you go to bed immediately, understood?" Everyone nodded and some began to cheer, then they all disappeared to get changed and brush their teeth.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

The time passed very slowly during these two hours. Miss Peregrine was laying on the black couch, she had finally closed her eyes, after an endless discussion with Emma about her sleeping until the reset. After Fiona and Olive had fed Peanut again they sat down on the floor next to the others. Enoch and Emma said on the red couch, Claire had asked to sit on Emma's lap. "Please wake me if I fall asleep," she had asked and was now asleep sprawled out on Emma. The twins and Bronwyn were lying on the floor in between the couches and Millard, Hugh and Horace had started playing cards again to prevent them from falling asleep as well.

At quarter to 9 nearly everyone was asleep. Only Enoch and Emma had managed to talk the whole time to stay awake. As Enoch stood up because it was time, some of children opened their eyes. "Is it time already?" Millard asked. Enoch nodded, so the boys were slowly getting up. Emma didn't want to wake up little Claire, she was sleeping so peacefully. But she had to stand up and as she began to move, Claire opened her eyes as well. "Can we see the reset now?" she asked yawning. Emma nodded as well and put her back on the ground while she stood up to wake Miss Peregrine. Claire began to wake up the other children and Enoch had gone outside to prepare everything for the reset.

Carefully, Emma woke Miss Peregrine, she really didn't like to because her headmistress looked so tired but she had to. Yawning, Miss Peregrine lifted herself up and looked at the watch on the fireplace. It was nearly 9 o'clock, so she stood up and went into the corridor to get her jacket. Emma and the others followed, grabbing their gas masks on their way. They all went outside and watched their house, waiting for the bomb. Everything looked like always, Miss Peregrine was standing in front of all her children, her pocket watch in her right hand. Only the older ones could see that their ymbryne still looked sick, they just hoped that the reset won't worsen her state any further. Then the bomb dropped and before it could hit, Miss Peregrine stopped the time, she began to reverse and the bomb disappeared again. The sun returned and disappeared. Suddenly it was dark again and the clock changed to September 2nd. Relieved, Miss Peregrine put her pocket watch back into her pocket and removed her gas mask, as did the children and they went back inside together. Emma hurried to Miss Peregrine to see how she was and if she needed help but fortunately she saw that Miss Peregrine was still ok. She smiled at her. "Thank you, Emma, but I'm fine. I'm really tired though." "Of course you are," Emma said. "You can sleep now." Grateful, Alma nodded.

Inside, Emma made all the children go to bed immediately. "Miss P., can you come and read us a story?" Claire and Bronwyn begged. For them everything was back to normal since they had seen the reset as always. Miss Peregrine didn't know what to say, she didn't like denying her children anything. Fortunately, Emma stepped in. "I'm sorry, but Miss Peregrine needs to sleep. Olive and me can come and tuck you in later, ok?" Emma explained. "I'm going with you now," Olive agreed and left with the children. Enoch brought in the things they had needed for the reset and was now tidying the parlour for the night, so Emma and Miss Peregrine were left in the corridor alone. " You should go to bed now," Emma said. Miss Peregrine nodded slowly, she was really tired and had problems keeping her eyes open, the reset and her fever were taking all her energy. "Do you need anything? " Emma asked. Miss Peregrine shook her head. "I guess not," she replied." "I can make you another cup of tea, you still need to drink," Emma offered. "You don't have to, you've already done enough," Alma said. "I can do it myself." "No way!" Emma replied. "You're still sick and you need to lie down, I'm not letting you prepare your own tea," Emma stated. Alma gave up, she was too tired to argue. "Ok," she said and made her way up the stairs. Why did her room have to be upstairs, she just wanted to lie down and the stairs were killing her. On her way she passed the rooms of her children, it was mostly quiet inside, she could only hear Olive reading to Claire and Bronwyn.

Finally she had arrived at her room. She took off her jacket and her dressing gown and went into the bathroom to get ready for bed. Brushing her teeth felt so good after the last two days. Her hair still looked terrible but she didn't have the energy to redo it especially because it would look the same in the morning. She let herself fall into bed as Emma knocked at her door. As Emma entered she gave her the cup of tea. " I put some cold water into it too, so you can drink and don't have to wait until it's cold enough," she said. "Thank you, you're wonderful," Miss Peregrine said grateful. "Ok, then sleep well and call if you need anything," Emma said before she left the room. "Thank you Emma, you too," Alma answered as Emma closed the door behind her.

Emma went to the twins' bedroom. Luckily they hadn't fallen asleep yet. She went over to their beds and gave both of them a good-night kiss. "I just wanted to say that I'm really proud of you, that you tried to get Claire's doll. I'm really sorry that I didn't understand what you wanted to tell us. Now it seems so logical what you tried to show me." The twins made a sound that obviously meant that they were happy. Emma patted their heads and left them to sleep. Only 25 minutes past 9 the whole house was quiet and everyone fast asleep, they had all needed the sleep. It was a peaceful night except for Olive, Fiona and Hugh getting up to feed Peanut every 3 hours. But because they took turns, everyone had to get up only once.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

The next morning started once more with a lot of sunshine. It was 7 o'clock and everyone was still asleep. Only Miss Peregrine slowly opened her eyes as another ray of sunlight woke her up. She looked around, it was already a bright day. Then she looked at her watch, it was 7 o'clock. Alma sighed, she was a little bit late but finally her circadian rhythm had almost returned. For a moment she stayed in her bed, listening to her body. Even just lying here she felt that she was a lot better, her headache was gone, as was the nausea. Slowly she lifted herself up and sat on the edge of her bed. So far the dizziness hadn't returned either. Relieved she stood up and went into the bathroom. Again she splashed some water into her face which gave her energy for the start into a new day. She watched her reflection in the mirror. Unfortunately she had to notice that she still didn't look herself again. She was still a bit pale and didn't look as well rested as she felt. But all in all it was a lot better than yesterday. Alma began loosening her plait, then she undressed herself and took a shower. It felt so good to be clean again after the last days of sweating. It was like washing off all the memories of her illness. Afterwards she got dressed, put some makeup on and was finally able to put her hair in a bun again. She looked at herself and was pleased. Now she almost looked like her normal self again. In her room she checked her watch again before she went downstairs. It was now half past 7, she would have to hurry again to finish the breakfast before her children came down. But Alma guessed that they would sleep longer today as well. Downstairs she went straight for the kitchen and started preparing everything. After nearly half an hour, she heard the first footsteps on the stairs and didn't have to wait long to see who it was. A couple of seconds later, Emma entered the kitchen, she smiled. " Miss Peregrine, good morning!" she greeted. "I hope you're really feeling better and you're not just sitting here because you think you should." Alma shook her head. "I'm really feeling better, Emma. Thank you so much again for your help during the last 2 days...and nights," she added and winked at Emma. But Emma wasn't satisfied yet. "You're welcome, Miss P. But I thought I had told you, that it's natural that we care for you as well and that we want to help you. For the future I'd like you to tell us when you need help, ok?" Miss Peregrine nodded. "I'll try. Speaking of help: Would you like to help me with the breakfast?" she asked. "Gladly!" Emma replied and went over to the stove to fry some eggs and beacon. "You still look a bit pale though," she pointed out, turning around to face Miss Peregrine who was sitting at the table, cutting some fruit. She nodded. "I know, I'm still feeling a bit worn out, maybe just the after-effects of the dehydration," Alma guessed. Emma turned back towards the stove. "Yeah, maybe," she answered. "Have you checked your temperature again?" she inquired further. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her headmistress shake her head. "Then we will have to do it again later, won't we?" Emma said, giving her headmistress an impish smile. Defeated, Miss Peregrine just nodded and finished the fruit. After they had finished with the porridge and the pancakes as well, they began to set the table. Emma had just placed the last bowl on the table as the other children gradually arrived. "You can sit down, I'm just going back into the kitchen and will be back with Miss P. shortly," Emma explained before heading back into the kitchen where Miss Peregrine was already cleaning up. " The others are all sitting at the table, so we can start eating," Emma explained. But as Miss Peregrine wanted to go past her towards the dining room, Emma stopped her. "Steady on, Miss P.! You didn't think I would forget about that, did you?" Emma asked waving the thermometer at her ymbryne, who groaned in protest. "Slowly, you're getting on my nerves," Miss Peregrine joked while sitting down. Emma handed her the thermometer. "I'm really happy that you're feeling good enough to joke again, but as long as you're febrile, I won't let you do any work around here, understood?" Miss Peregrine nodded and took the thermometer into her mouth. Intently, they waited for the blue liquid to stop rising, then Alma took it before Emma could glance at it. She checked the temperature and smiled. "It's nearly gone, see?" she said, holding it out for Emma to see. "37.7 - It's still subfebrile," Emma declared and grabbed the thermometer to put it back into the bathroom. "And therefore you're going to rest today as well, until the fever is gone completely," she added and left the kitchen. Inevitably, Alma had to smile. Emma was just so much like her in some ways. And she was right, Alma would say the same thing to one of her children if they were sick. Still happy she followed Emma into the dining room. As she entered all of the children cheered. To them seeing her headmistress up again, preparing breakfast for them meant she was back to normal again. Together they ate breakfast and laughed a lot until Miss Peregrine got their attention by making a noise with her spoon on her cup. All of the children stopped talking at once and looked at their ymbryne.

"I wanted to say 'Thank you'," she started. "You've been wonderful the last 2 days. I'm so proud of you!" Alma had to concentrate hard not to cry because she was so touched. "Especially Emma, Enoch and Olive: You took on so much responsibility and I'm so grateful. And you younger ones as well, you helped a lot by being good children like I've always taught you to be. I know you're not always so obedient but these last days showed me that you can be when it matters." Miss Peregrine stopped to wipe away a tear that had fallen down her cheek. Now it had happened, she couldn't help it. She looked at her children, they were all smiling at her. It didn't matter to them that she had lost her composure, they returned her loving look. Maybe she didn't have to be so distanced after all.

Alma smiled and continued: "It meant a lot to me to know that you can take care of each other when I can't be there for you. It made me realize that you can do so much more than what I always let you do. I could have never imagined someone else shooting the hollow but with a bit of practice and my timetable you did brilliantly, Enoch." The second tear made her way down Alma's cheek, but this time she didn't bother to remove it. "Maybe you're right and I should let you take on more responsibility." Miss Peregrine paused for a moment. "It's just against everything I learned at the Academy for ymbrynes and the current situation of peculiardom doesn't encourage me to give you more liberties either." She sighed before continuing. "But I will try to," she promised as her voice eventually broke completely. Emma stood up and went towards her to embrace her ymbryne in a tight hug. The other children followed her and soon they were all standing next to the table in a big group hug. Some of the children were starting to cry as well because they weren't used to so many emotions from their ymbryne. Finally Miss Peregrine broke free and tried to smile again. She patted some of her children's heads with her hands.

"And because you were so brave, you deserve a treat!" she declared. All the children lifted their heads and looked at her excitingly. "What treat?" some of them asked. "Something you've been begging me for months." Alma paused again and took in all the little excited faces. Some of them began to smile and Alma could see that they already guessed what she would say next.

"Tomorrow we're going to the mainland to spend the day at the big beach." Miss Peregrine had nearly finished her sentence as the crowd burst into jubilation once more. They hugged her again. "To the one with the big slides?" Claire asked, nearly jumping out of pure joy. "And the diving platform?" Millard added. "Exactly!" Miss Peregrine answered. Now the children were cheering even louder. "Can we have a picnic there as well?" Bronwyn begged. "We will, with everything you ask for" Miss Peregrine said and hugged her."But what are we going to do with Peanut?" Fiona asked concerned.

"We'll take him with us, of course. Olive can heat some water for his meal there as well," Miss Peregrine winked at Fiona.

It took some time until Miss Peregrine had enough room to move again but her children were still forming a circle around her. She saw them all smiling at her, even the older ones, then Emma approached her. "Are you sure you're already up to it. If you need more rest we can always go another day," Emma suggested and all the smiles on the other children's faces faded.

"I'm sure I can manage, Emma. And what's so exhausting about lying on the beach the whole day anyway?" Miss Peregrine laughed and put her arm around Emma's shoulder. "Now that I know you can take care of yourself, I don't have to do anything. And besides, the weather forecast for tomorrow predicted perfect beach weather."

"But it's perfect beach weather every day, Miss P.," Claire wanted to explain, she looked confused. "I know, sweetheart," Miss Peregrine answered laughing, lifting Claire up to hold her. All of the other children began to laugh as Miss Peregrine gave her smiling Claire a kiss.

-the end-

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 **So, that's it! My first completed story. I hope you liked it as much as I did. Thank you so much for reading and staying with me till the end and of course for all the great reviews. I had a lot of fun writing this and I'm thinking to write another story, but it's still just a plan.**


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